In the thick forests of Bengal, there lived a group of crows and a group of peacocks. The youngest of all the crows was called Tinku. He had many friends who cared and his parents loved him a lot. He was the apple of his mom’s eyes. Everyday in the evenings, Tinku went near the bank of the river where the peacocks used to dance. Tinku loved the beautiful peacocks and it was a blissful sight for him to see them dancing. Especially when it rained and the peacocks opened all the beautiful feathers, Tinku loved the blissful sight more than ever.

This went on for more than 3 months.

One evening, when Tinku was watching the peacocks dance there came a hunter with bow and arrow. He appreciated the beauty of peacocks and criticized the crow telling it was an ugly creature. Tinku felt very sad and it thought about the hunter’s criticism all day long and finally went home with a hung face. When Tinku’s mum asked him what was wrong he said, “I’m a very ugly creature and humans do not love me”. Tinku’s mum told him, “God has created everything and every creature has its own strengths and weaknesses. We can never look as beautiful as a peacock. So do not worry about what humans think about you and be happy for what you are!”.

Tinku remained to be sad for the next 3 days. He did not go to watch the peacocks.

The following day, Tinku went to the bank of the river. This time when he saw the peacocks dancing, instead of feeling happy he started feeling jealous about the beauty of the peacocks. He thought to himself, “No one likes me. The peacocks look so beautiful because of the beautiful feathers. I can look charming as well if I have the feathers”.

So the next day Tinku became busy in collecting the peacock feathers that were scattered on the the bank of the river. Next, he found some beewax and stuck all the feathers to his back. Now, he stared at his reflection in the river and found  himself very charming. When the peacocks arrived in the evening and started dancing, Tinku joined them as well and tried to be one of them. But soon all the peacocks started laughing at him. They passed comments like, ” Look at this foolish crow which is trying to be one among us. He can never be as beautiful as we are! Such a foolish crow! “. After listening to this Tinku felt very unhappy and sat back on his branch of tree crying.

On watching the poor crow cry, the wise peacock Pinku started consoling him.

He said, “There is no need to cry for you. All the peacocks mocked at you because you are trying to be something that you are not! You are a crow and we are peacocks. You can never look like us and we can never look like you. God has created different creatures according to varied characteristics. You should be happy for how you look and what you are! You cannot dance like us and we cannot fly like you. Our feathers are beautiful but we cannot use them to fly high. Your feathers may not be beautiful but you can fly as high as you want with those wings. You should never try to be someone that you are not! By doing so, you are only hurting yourself and letting others make fun of you. You  are a very smart crow Tinku. You are talented and you’re the best in your community. Don’t waste your time in trying to be like us. Be happy and contented with what you are, love yourself and learn to appreciate your strengths.”

On listening to Pinku’s words, Tinku felt happy and he came out of his blues. He thought to himself that the peacock was right and he was wrong in trying to be someone that he is not! He learnt a lesson that everyone should be satisfied and contented with what they are. Every individual is unique and we should never feel sad that we are not like someone else.

From then on, Tinku only appreciated the peacocks but never felt jealous of them. Neither did he try to be one among them. Tinku had learnt his lesson very well and he got back to his happy life with his loving parents and caring friends!

Moral of the Story

Never try to be like others. Be like yourself only and you will be happy and satisfied.