STORIES FOR YOUNG ONES - III

Sharing some stories I have been telling my three grandchildren

THE PEACOCK DANCE 

Image courtesy: Freepik

A peacock was eating some seeds that had fallen on the ground.

It was so bored, and a little sad too.

Suddenly it heard a friendly twitter.

“Tweet, tweet! Hello!”

The peacock looked up and saw a bright yellow bird sitting on the top of a tree.

“Hello,” said the peacock.

“Come up here, dear friend,” said the yellow bird.

The peacock said, “I am sorry, I can’t fly up tall trees.”

“Oh, you can. Just try,” the yellow bird said.

The peacock tried to fly up to the top, but landed back on the grass instead.

The yellow bird flew around the tree in a circle. Then it sat on a lower branch.

“See, it is such fun,” it told the peacock. “Come up.”

The peacock lowered its long glittery neck sadly.

“Sorry, I can’t. I have such long feathers. They are very heavy,” it said.

“Yes, I see you have long feathers. What do you with them?” asked the bird.

“I spread them out like a fan and dance when it rains,” the peacock told the yellow bird.

“How nice! Please show me,” the bird said.

The peacock shook its colourful feathers and spread them out slowly.

Just then it began raining.

The peacock was not sad anymore. It started dancing.

The bird flapped its bright yellow wings. “Wow, this is so beautiful!”

The monkey and squirrel and so many little birds also gathered to watch the peacock dance.

They all praised it and joined in too, but they could not dance as well as the peacock.

“Peacock, you can’t fly too high but your dance is truly the best,” everyone said.

The peacock was so happy, and its feathers too shone so brightly.

“I thank you all,” it said, bowing its long neck and turning round and round.

The peacock looked up at the clouds and silently thanked them too.

Then it joined the dance party again.

We all have something to be grateful for, after all.