Page 133 - Moral Stories Vol 6

He returned to she-hawk and they both decided to build their nest on a tree at the island where the tortoise lived. Soon they had little babies and the family was happy. One day, two hunters who had a very bad day in the forest stopped by near the island. They were very frustrated4 as they couldn’t get a single animal the whole day. They decided to spend the night at the island and try their luck the next morning.
They lit fire under the tree where hawks had their nest and tried to get some sleep. Right at that time they both heard the chirping5 sound of the hawk’s babies. They both got excited and decided to catch them in the morning.
Hawk heard them making the plan to catch his babies. He got worried. He immediately flew to his friend, Osprey and explained to him the whole situation. Osprey assured him of his help and asked him to go home and not worry.
Osprey flew towards the lake, dived into it, soaked his body and poured water over the fire which hunters lit to keep themselves warm. Hunters got up and lit it again. In the light of fire, they decided to catch the baby birds in the night only. One of them started climbing the tree. Osprey again soaked himself and poured water on the fire. Hunters tried to catch him but he flew again.
They lit the fire again and this whole episode6 continued for the whole night. Osprey started feeling weak and hawks felt that he would die if this continued. They went to their friend tortoise and requested him to help them. Tortoise came out of the water. Seeing him, hunters ran towards him. They decided to catch him instead.
They tore their waistband and tied tortoise legs with it. But the tortoise was too powerful for them to handle. He dragged both of them in the water along with them. Both the hunters came out of the lake. They decided to go for the baby birds again. They started collecting twigs7 for lighting a new fire.
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