Nightingtale

NIGHTINGTALE

This is a tale of a boy and a nightingale. Once upon a time there used to live a nightingale all by herself in a dark forest. There were other animals but none of her kind. She used to roam the forest in search of food and light and shelter. She kept changing her habitat and put her out of sight out of fear of predators. One day she was exhausted from all of her efforts so far, so she went out of her refuge and began chirping to speak her heart out.

Her voice was caught on by an owl which was close by. The owl prepared to attack her and launched himself into the air when a stone came hurling at him from some distance. A screech came out of his mouth which surprised the nightingale. The little bird in surprise flew frantically and hit a tree. She fell on the ground and was now unable to fly or run for the time being. She coveted herself in order to prevent being detected by someone. Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching from a distance. She started praying for her life but to her amazement the footsteps kept coming closer and closer.

She started losing hope in her life when all of a sudden, the one to whom the footsteps belong was standing in front of her. It was a boy in his teen-ages with brownish black hair and prominent jawline. The boy came there searching for the stone that was shot. Instead of finding his stone he saw a little nightingale which was injured and covering in fear. The boy saw the little raindrops in the eyes of the bird and was moved by them so much that he instead of harming it took care of its wounds.

He then placed her in a hollow in the nearby tree. Before leaving he noticed the owl in the distance and took care of him by hurling another stone at it. The little bird was so amazed and impressed by this feat of the boy that it thought of making him friend. The next day the boy came with a basket of red berries to feed the bird. The bird was so happy to finally see someone who was there for her in this dark forest that she started chirping out of happiness.

To her amazement the boy was able to understand her which only strengthened their little bond that was still lose and just started building. The boy found the bird as someone trustworthy and reliable and empathetic, so he opened his heart out to it. He had shifted a year ago from the village to a place nearby the forest on a whim and after finding himself not able to communicate with other people.

His name was Kazuma. He was a person whom people tagged as good and harmless. Kazuma after opening up to the bird asked about it and came to know that it was, she and one of her kind in this vast forest. Her name was Nema. She revealed that the forest isn’t suited for her kind and none of them lives there yet she somehow was there and was now trying her best to survive.

Kazuma was able to understand where Nema was coming from and comforted her. They went on talking and didn’t realize it was already midnight. The boy bid farewell to the bird and went back to his house. The bird went back to the hollow. Time passed and the boy and the bird became closer to each other with every passing day. The boy helped the bird in various ways by establishing a light source near its nest to ward of predators and to illuminate the darkness encroaching the trees, the nest, the soil and the bushes. The boy taught her various survival skills and also contributed to developing her personality.

The bird on the other hand played a major part in giving the boy a positive outlook on life, polishing his communication skills and transforming him from an individualistic to a communistic person. Days kept passing and then one day the boy stopped coming. The bird was shocked, but she also didn’t know where to find him, so she just prayed that he’s alright and comes by again. But when there was no sign of Kazuma for many days the bird started chirping out of frustration. It kept crying her heart out when she heard a familiar voice from the distance.

''I got selected. I overcame my fears. It’s all thanks to you. You are a blessing for anyone who’s life you are part of, you are not somebody. You are one of the most important figures in my life. I am sorry for all the times I was harsh to you; I am sorry for leaving you all alone, I am sorry for everything.''

Nema, with tears of happiness in her eyes, forgot all about her frustration and flew right away and hugged him. The two kept in heartwarming embrace for some time the sunshine shining from behind them made the shadows as if the bird was embracing the boy in her large wings.

But as you all know every story has an end and every love’s end is weariness and the same poison attacked their bond. The boy and the bird talked about various things the following days, but Nema noticed that the frequency of Kazuma’s visits to the forest was decreasing and he seemed less and less interested in their talks.

One day Kazuma came to forest full of determination and informed Nema that he wanted to tell her something. Nema as always was excited to listen to him and maybe in her wildest imaginations she didn’t ever imagine what was about to hit her.

Kazuma said, ''Nema I like you. And I also have other responsibilities too. I can’t always be there for you, and I still want to be together with you. So, I have a proposal. Either I can take you with me and keep you in a cage you won’t have to worry about food shelter or predators, or you can stay here but I won’t be there, and we will never communicate with each other from now on.''

The bird was shocked to hear all this. After a while the bird answered the boy. ''I was all alone in this forest, you were the first one who was good enough to take care of me and was always there when I needed you. I only consider you a friend and this forest is where I am from the moment, I opened my eyes. It may be dangerous, but I can’t sacrifice my freedom for being together with you. It’s not like I am angry at you or hate you but what you said is also illogical.'

The boy disheartened after listening to this unusual and maybe partially known outcome said, ''I guess this is farewell then. I hope you find others of your kind and I wish you best of luck for your rest of life...''

Nights passed, days passed, weeks passed, months passed...

The boy who was initially destroyed to the core from this event kept moving on with life while remembering and practicing the skills and lessons he learned from the time he was with the nightingale. The boy slowly got busy with life and was surrounded by people and found goodness in life. He was a completely different person from years back.

This experience changed him in a positive way but still everyday he used to remember the nights spent in the dark forest, the moments he spent listening to the nightingale and illuminating a small patch of the dark forest for it. Once he somehow came across the dark forest once again and out of nowhere, he started listening the voices coming from within. After a lot of concentration, he was able to hear a familiar voice. He rushed towards it. The voice became clearer and clearer and at last he saw a nightingale singing at a tree branch.

The boy, after listening to the beautiful song, called out to it. ''Nema, how you doing?''

Nema replied, ''I did what you wanted me to, at the expense of how down someone felt, and I understand it, but I won’t respect it.”

The boy didn’t know for a moment what happened, but he knew that something inside him came crumbling down. These words were like a shock to him, and he never got to understood what the bird actually said and what those words actually portrayed. As usual time passed but Kazuma was still there somewhere in that forest, in the beautiful nights, in the nightingale’s songs.

Kazuma went back to his life, but his heart was lost in the dark forest. The castle of his dreams was shattered right in front of his eyes, and he didn’t even get to know it for a long time. Kazuma busied himself with work and his family. He started becoming still a better person each day but yet there was always something disturbing his nights. His mornings were disturbed and yet beautiful because of the chirping of birds. His nights were made beautiful by the moon illuminating a small patch of sky.

It took a long time for him to realize what was the root cause of all the suffering and problem but what can be done now? What’s done is done. There’s no turning back the wheel of time and changing it. Besides the ones who want to rewind time are the ones that are weak. The strong ones persevere through patience and hope. Kazuma went from being a teenager to a young guy to a guy in thirties. The place he was working was now close to the dark forest. Kazuma while knowing the realities everyday went to the outskirts of dark forest to listen to the voices of the birds coming from it.

Over the years it has changed from a dark forest to a forest of light. It had become a safe haven for birds. There were still difficulties and problems, but the birds together were able to defeat them. There were days when he used to think that he saw Nema. She was chirping happily along with others of her kind. She flew freely in the sky and was not afraid of the predators anymore. She had grown so much that it would make Kazuma call out to her but then he would stop by giving the excuse that nightingales don’t live more than five years.

He had a lot to say to his little friend who had become the most important person in his life. He wanted to say to Nema, ''I know I have been a lot to handle, I have been a nuisance, I didn’t factor your feelings and perspective and only gave you an option to choose from instead of figuring the whole mess out together. This may have worked out in a different way but still I am contented at what happened. At least you were able to change the forest, find others like yourself, you developed and gained so much more than you may have if I was with you and for that I am happy that it turned out as it is. We may not meet each other but I pray that somehow, we end up together even after knowing all the facts.''