Forest Chronicle: The Orphaned Animal

The orphaned young animal was confused.

The forest had been kind to it. All the animals in the forest allowed it to join them, be with them and play with their young ones. But it was like no other animal. It was part of all the groups, yet did not belong to any. It mingled with all, yet remained lonely. And it was confused about its identity.

The young animal set out to discover itself.

It wished it was a tiger. Then the entire forest would fear it. But it soon realized that it could hardly live in solitude. Also, it did not have any stripes.

Peacocks were admired for their beauty and dance, and so it wished it was one. But it realized that it could hardly dance.

It wished it was a cow. Then it would be revered. But it realized that it was hardly docile and also could not give milk.

It wished it was a deer, but realized that it would not like to be seen as meek.

For every animal that it wished it was, it saw some characteristic of theirs that it did not possess. And the confusion kept growing.

A wise elephant took pity on the poor animal and offered to help. The elephant admitted that the young animal was indeed unique. It could, unlike other animals, appreciate the characteristics of other animals. Only human beings are blessed with that ability. The elephant hence suggested to the young animal that it was probably a human being.

The young animal was pleased for a moment. At last it had some clue to its identity. And the young animal now wished that it was a human being. Then it would be respected and feared for its intelligence.

As the young animal continued to evaluate its identity as human being, it suddenly realized that it had a deep respect for and always adhered to the laws of nature. It never believed in violating the laws of nature for its benefit. It never believed in, nor could it ever manipulate nature to satisfy its wants. Is this characteristic in tune with being a human being? The young animal was not sure.

And so, the orphaned young animal was once again confused.