Don’t Compete with others

There was a very big and beautiful garden near a village and there was a waterfall nearby. Very few people from the village used to go there.

Various types of flowers used to bloom in it. Various types of birds used to roam around in that garden. Among them were Tiku, peacock, pigeon, birds used to chirp.

A peacock used to come to that garden always. Whenever the peacock felt like it, he used to go near the waterfall, near the water falling from the waterfall. As soon as light drops of water fell, he used to start dancing.

One day a Tiku sitting on a nearby tree was watching all this. Seeing this the Tiku started cooing. The peacock enjoyed a lot on hearing the Tiku’s voice, he started dancing happily spreading his wings.

After a while the Tiku flies away. The peacock was also tired. He goes back.

The same sequence starts from the next day. The Tiku sitting on the tree makes a very nice sound with its sweet throat, on hearing which the peacock starts dancing. Both enjoy a lot.

Within a few days, the Tiku and the peacock become friends. One day the peacock asks the Tiku, “Sister Tiku, how do you sing so well?”

Hearing this, the Tiku says, “My brother, all this is God’s gift. He has filled my throat with so much sweetness that whenever I speak, a very beautiful sound comes out of my throat.”

The peacock becomes jealous of the Tiku. He feels that she dances well. If he starts singing like the Tiku, everyone will praise her a lot. I wish I could get the voice of the Tiku.

In this dilemma, he stops dancing. Now he also stops going to the waterfall. On the other hand, the Tiku used to sit on the tree near the waterfall and sing every day. But the peacock does not come there.

The peacock did not feel like dancing anymore. He kept thinking all the time how to sing like the Tiku. He tried many times but no sound came out of his throat.

After a few days, the Tiku also stopped coming to that tree. Whenever the peacock saw the Tiku, he would not talk to it. He started hating the Tiku.

One day the peacock was sitting on a branch of a tree. Then he heard a voice similar to that of the Tiku. When he looked carefully, he found that a man was playing the flute in the streets of the village.

The peacock was very happy to see this. He thought – “Oh wow, he is making a voice better than the Tiku. Why shouldn’t I buy such a flute?”

He started flying from one branch to another, chasing the flute player. The flute player sat down to rest under a tree and kept his flute bag nearby.

The peacock secretly went behind the tree and started pulling the flute from the bag slowly with his beak. The flute player was in deep sleep. The peacock slowly takes out his flute. He flies and sits on a branch of a tree holding the flute in his beak.

The peacock was very happy and was thinking – “Now I will become the best bird by dancing and singing. Now that Tiku’s pride will also be broken. She used to talk a lot. God has made her like this. Now I will teach you music even better than that.”

But now the problem was how to play the flute, if he lets go of the flute it will fall down.

So he comes down to the garden. He puts the flute on the ground and blows on it while holding it in his beak. But the air goes out from the other side of the beak. The flute does not play.

This makes the peacock very upset. Then he thinks that if he did not have a beak he could have easily played that man’s flute.

He goes to a stone and hits it hard with his beak. But the beak does not break. Then he sticks his beak in the trunk of a tree and breaks it. As soon as his beak breaks, he feels a lot of pain. He starts screaming with pain. But no one comes there. After that the peacock cries a lot. Still he tries to play the flute somehow.

But how to hold the flute without a beak. He had not thought about this before. Defeated, he throws the flute. But due to the broken beak, he is not able to pick even the grains. He gets upset and starts wandering here and there.

Then the Tiku sees the peacock.

The Tiku comes to him – “Peacock brother, what happened, how did this beak break?”

The peacock tells her everything – hearing this the Tiku says to him – “Brother, I had already told you. God has made everyone the way he is. This is fine.

You think how I will look if I start dancing. God has made me black. But he has given me a good voice. He has made you so beautiful that everyone yearns to see you. No bird has beauty like you.

Hearing this the peacock started crying – “Sister, you are right, I have harmed myself, now how will I eat the grains. I will die.”

The Tiku said – “Brother, don’t worry, I will put grains in your mouth until your beak heals. But you will have to dance like before.”

The peacock was very happy to hear this. Both of them started dancing and singing like before.

Moral: Instead of competing with others, be content with what God has given you.