After searching for a long time, Minni Mynah found a grain of maize. She sat on a branch of a tree to eat it. As soon as she tried to eat it, the grain slipped out of her grip. It fell down.
Before Minni could pick it up, Ginni Sparrow flew away with the grain.
“Wait, this grain is mine,” Minni called out. However, by that time Ginni had flown away. Minni felt bad. Someone had taken her food and she couldn’t do anything. Once again, she flew in search of food.
She didn’t find a single grain. She just found a piece of a chapatti. She tried to satisfy her hunger by eating it and drinking water. Then, she flew back towards her nest.
Minni was angry with the sparrow who had taken her grain. Minni was tired. She fell asleep.
The next morning, when Minni woke up, she felt another bird’s presence on the tree that was in front of her nest. When Minni looked closely, she recognised the bird.
“You! You are the one who took my maize grain yesterday. How dare you come here?” Minni shouted in anger.
“Which maize grain?” the sparrow asked.
“Hmm, yesterday you took my grain and today you’re acting innocent.” Minni reminded the sparrow of the incident that had happened the day before.
Ginni questioned, “What’s my fault in that? I saw a grain on the ground. I picked it up. I didn’t know that the grain had fallen down from your grip.”
Minni said, “Don’t lie. I called after you but you didn’t answer.”
Ginni replied, “Did you call me by name? No… then how could I have known that somebody was calling me?”
“Well, you can’t stay here!” Minni was still furious.
“Who are you to stop me? I am not going anywhere, I will stay right here,” said Ginni.
“Don’t you dare come near my nest in this rubber plant!”
“I am not even interested,” said Ginni. She flew away.
Minni and Ginni could never see eye-to-eye. Minni wouldn’t go to the guava tree where Ginni lived. Ginni never visited Minni’s nest on the rubber plant.
A few days later, Ginni noticed that Minni had stopped coming out of her nest. She would go out only for a short while.
“Does she want to harm me?” Ginni wondered.
She became alert.
One day, Ginni could hear the chirping of birds from Minni’s nest.
“Oh, it’s the sound of babies chirping! Minni has laid eggs that have hatched. That is why she was not leaving her nest. I was unnecessarily getting worried,” thought Ginni.
She flew out to pick grain.
Ginni found some grains nearby. She returned to her nest.
Just as she sat down to eat the grains, she heard Minni’s babies crying for food.
Ginni looked towards Minni’s nest. She saw that Minni was not there. She said, “It seems as if their mother has gone to get grains for them. Meanwhile, these poor chicks are very hungry. Should I feed them? What if the mother sees me near the nest? Well, I will wait and see what happens.”
Within a few minutes, Ginni thought, “I can’t watch these chicks in distress.”
Just as she was about to go, Minni returned. This made Ginni feel a little uneasy.
Ginni said in a hesitant tone, “I am sorry, I came near your nest by mistake.”
Minni said with a choked voice, “I should be the one asking for forgiveness. I fought with you. Yet, you fed my hungry chicks. I saw you feeding them while coming.
Ginni replied, “I am happy that I was able to help you.”
“Will you be able to forget what happened earlier? Will you be friends with me?” Minni asked with hesitation in her voice.
“Yes, why not? We should live in harmony. After all, all of us need each other at some point of time,” said Ginni with a smile.
Thereafter, Minni and Ginni became good friends.
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