Damru the Donkey had just started singing when Jumbo the Elephant barged into his house. 

“Stop! You are creating a nuisance early in the morning. You better stop this noise at once!” screamed Jumbo in rage.

“Brother Jumbo, what nuisance are you talking about? I am just practising singing,” Damru replied softly.

“You do not have any sense of music. The singing is the nuisance!” Jumbo screamed, not able to control himself.

Before he could finish his sentence, Baddy the Fox walked in too.

“Damru, this neighbourhood has a right to live in peace. Why are you waking up all of us so early in the morning with your singing? This neighbourhood belongs to decent people and if you keep creating nuisance, you will be thrown out of here,” said Baddy, standing threateningly close to Damru.

“But where else can I practise singing if not at my own house?” asked Damru helplessly.

“We don’t know that, but if we hear you sing again, we will ask you to leave,” threatened Jumbo and Baddy and left.

This frightened Damru and he started crying loudly.

Damru weeps

Cheeku the Rabbit and Meeku the Mouse were walking past Damru’s house when they heard him cry. They went to see if they could help him.

“Damru, what happened? Why are you crying so loudly? We can hear you from outside. Did someone hurt you?” asked Cheeku.

“My...my...neighbours scolded me today,” sobbed Damru.

“You must have done something wrong to deserve it,” said Meeku.

“I did not! I was practising singing, when they came in and scolded me for creating a nuisance. It is not the first time they have done this. They do it every time I sing,” cried Damru between sobs.

“I never knew about this,” said Cheeku surprised.

“Cheeku, your house is a little further from my house. Maybe, you can’t hear me and so, you don’t know about this,” spoke Damru quietly.

“Yes, maybe that is why I didn’t hear them, too. It seems we will have to teach your neighbours a lesson,” replied Cheeku.

“Cheeku, Damru actually sings out of tune and if the others get irritated with his singing, then we cannot blame them for it, can we?” Meeku whispered in Cheeku’s ears.

“Meeku, what you say maybe true, but I have noticed that Jumbo, Baddy and Damru’s other neighbours always try to pull him down and make fun of him. They consider Damru to be stupid and think of themselves to be very intelligent,” Cheeku said seriously.

“What shall we do?” asked Meeku

“We will have to think of a way so that Damru’s neighbours realise that they themselves can be fooled. Then they will stop making fun of Damru and not bother him for singing,” Cheeku said thoughtfully.

“But how will we do that?” asked Meeku. Cheeku quietly explained his plan to him.

An idea that changes everything

Next day, as soon as Damru started singing, his neighbours barged into his house.

“Stop it! You stupid, non-musical idiot. Haven’t you understood anything from my lecture yesterday?” screamed Jumbo.

“Damru is very adamant. He does not pay any heed to what we tell him,” agreed Baddy, joining Jumbo at Damru’s house.

“I suggest we tie up his mouth with a tape,” suggested Blacky the Bear.

While they were discussing how to stop Damru from singing, Cheeku and Meeku reached Damru’s house.

Is Damru a great singer?

“Hello everyone, what are all of you talking about? You want Damru to stop singing. Don’t you know that he is a great singer?” said Cheeku. Everybody laughed when Cheeku said that.

“Don’t make us laugh, Cheeku. Are you actually saying that Damru is a great singer?” Jumbo laughed.

“It seems you are not aware that Damru can start rain with his song and here you are trying to stop such a great singer from singing?” added Meeku, surprising everyone.

“In my opinion Damru’s singing would do just the opposite. It would stop raining if Damru sang,” teased Baddy.

“Even we were not aware of his art, but yesterday it started raining in the forest as soon as Damru started to sing. We had to accept it,” said Cheeku.

“But it did not rain in the forest yesterday,” said Blacky.

“Because, it only rains around him! We got to know about his talent only after we saw what his singing could do and what a great singer he is,” Meeku added quickly.

“We don’t believe you,” said Jumbo, refusing to accept Cheeku’s and Meeku’s claim.

“We don’t care if you believe us or not. We definitely want to listen to Damru sing. Damru, please start,” Cheeku insisted.

As soon as Damru started singing, it started to rain in front of his house.

“Wow, it’s raining outside. Damru is a great singer,” said Meeku glancing out of the window. Everyone followed and looked out of the window to see that it was indeed raining outside!

“You can see with your own eyes now that what we were saying was true. And you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to stop such a great singer from singing!” said Cheeku.

No one could utter a word against Cheeku’s argument.

“Please forgive us, Damru. We were not aware that we were stopping such a great singer like you from practising. We will not disturb you again,” said Baddy and they all left from there.

“This prank was great fun!” Cheeku, Meeku and Damru sang together as soon as everyone left.

“Thank you Cheeku, because of you no one will now stop me from singing,” said Damru happily.

“Also, Jumpy monkey needs to be thanked. It was he who stood with a pipe outside and made the rain possible from your terrace,” laughed Cheeku, explaining how it had rained.

“Wow, now I can sing even at midnight and no one will say anything to me!” said Damru. 

Hearing him say that, Cheeku and Meeku sat with their heads held in their hands. Damru did not understand what made them so upset and continued singing.