Jijo, the jackal loved motorbikes. He constantly asked his father to get him one.
“You are so little! You should just use the bicycle for now,” was his father’s reply.
Jijo thought he was old enough to use a bike. But all he had was an old and worn-out bicycle.
One day, Jijo decided to ask his father for a bike again. He went up to him and said, “I want a bike. I know how to drive one. Why won’t you buy one for me?”
His father said, “Bike is a lot of responsibility. Will you be able to take care of it? You should assure me that you will drive safely and follow all the rules.”
“Yes, yes, I will!” assured Jijo.
His father had a list of conditions for Jijo: “Every month, I’ll give you money for just four litres of fuel. You should use the
bike only to run important errands. You should always inform us before using the bike and most importantly, you must learn all the traffic rules.”
Jijo was a bit taken aback to hear so many conditions. He reluctantly agreed.
The following month, Jijo’s father got him a new bike. Jijo was overjoyed. He made up different excuses so that he would be allowed to ride it. And as he was allowed only four litres of fuel in a month, he could not ride very far. His friends too wanted to drive his bike. But Jijo felt restricted by all the conditions his father had set for him.
One day, Jijo’s friend, Fredo, the fox came to visit him.
Fredo said, “Jijo, there’s a fair being held on the outskirt of the forest. Why don’t we go there on your bike?”
“There’s hardly any fuel left in the bike. And I don’t have money to buy more fuel,” said Jijo.
“One litre is more than enough for us to go to the fair and return as well,” said Fredo.
“But Dad will not give me permission to go that far,” said Jijo.
“Ask your mother. She might have some errand for you to run and using that as an excuse, we can go to the fair and have some fun,” said Fredo.
Jijo informed his mother that he and Fredo were going to the market to buy some fruits. After she agreed, the two set off for the fair.
Jijo and Fredo enjoyed themselves at the fair. They had lots of fun eating ice creams and fried snacks. They went on different rides and spent the entire day there.
After it started getting dark, they set off for home. They had travelled only a small distance when the bike stopped suddenly. Jijo checked the fuel tank. It was empty.
“How will we go home now?” worried Jijo.
Fredo had an idea.
“Don’t worry! Sit on the bike and I’ll push it from behind.
After a while, I’ll sit on the bike and you push. This way, we will eventually reach home,” said Fredo.
So, the two took turns to push the bike and reached home late in the night. By then, both of them had become tired.
On reaching home, Jijo thought to himself, “My old bicycle is so much better! It looks worn out but it has never stopped working. It was good for my health as well.”
After that day, Jijo got back to using his bicycle and used the bike only when he needed to.
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