Neelu Duck had laid three eggs. She watched over them day and night, waiting for them to hatch.

Finally, the day arrived. 

One of the eggs shook and a crack appeared. A tiny duckling peeped out.

“Come out, little one,” said Neelu, in joy.

“Great! Try harder, break it open,” she said, in encouragement.

The little duckling finally broke out of the egg.

“Come to me,’’ said Neelu, and the duckling walked to her mother.

Then, the second egg started to shake. 

“Looks like this one’s hatching too!” said Neelu, happily.

Like the first one, a duckling peeped out.

Neelu encouraged it to come out, and like the first duckling, it came out and stood near its mom and sibling.

They all looked at the last egg. But it had not started moving.

The ducklings were getting restless. They wanted to explore the wurld they were born into.

“Hang on! This egg will hatch soon. We can all go to the river then,’’ said Neelu.

The ducklings stood quietly.

An hour passed, nothing happened. 

The ducklings got restless again.

“I think this egg will take some time to hatch. Come, let’s go to the river till then,” Neelu said and set off with the two ducklings in tow.

Soon cracks appeared on the third egg. A little duckling peeped out.

It struggled to break out, but it only succeeded in sticking its legs and head out of the shell. There was no Neelu around to encourage the duckling to break free of the shell. And with nobody around, the duckling didn’t know what to do. She saw the front door open, so walked out.

When Neelu returned with her two ducklings, she was shocked to find the third egg missing.

She searched the bedroom, the kitchen, the bathroom, even the balcony, but the egg was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did my baby go?” cried Neelu. She made posters with sketches of her missing egg and pasted them on all the walls and trees in her neighbourhood.

“I’m sure someone will see this and help me find my baby,” she thought, as she pasted another poster on a wall.

Later that day, elsewhere in the Jungle, Jumpy Monkey was feeling a little uncomfortable. He had eaten an unusually heavy lunch and found it impossible to take his afternoon nap. So he went out for a walk. After a while, he came up to a big tree and spotted a poster. He stopped to read it. “Oh, poor Neelu! How did her egg vanish? I wonder if we have an egg thief in the forest,” thought Jumpy. 

Since he had stopped, he decided to take a break, and climbed a tree to rest on a broad branch.

He was looking down at the forest floor, when he saw an egg run past. Jumpy blinked. Then he rubbed his eyes and looked again. 

“Am I dreaming? Is that really an egg running past?” he said as he jumped down and started running behind the egg.

“We both can’t be dreaming the same thing!” exclaimed Cheeku Rabbit, who was munching on carrots under the tree. “I saw a running egg too.”

The two friends began following the egg to see how it could run. The quickly overtook the egg, and realised that it was a tiny duckling that had not managed to fully get out of its shell.

“This must be Neelu’s lost egg!” exclaimed Jumpy.

“Oh yes! I saw those posters too,” said Cheeku.

“Cheeku, will you stay here with the egg and keep danger  away? I’ll run to find Neelu,” said Jumpy.

“Yes, I will,” said Cheeku. “But run fast to Neelu!

Jumpy rushed away to Neelu’s house. “Come with me, Neelu. I’ve found your egg!” he shouted.

Neelu ran back with Jumpy, and was delighted to find that it was indeed her egg. “My little baby!” she exclaimed. The little duckling heard her voice and ran towards her mother. As it ran, the the rest of the shell broke away.

“Bravo my little one,” cheered Neelu. “Come with me and meet your siblings. I’ll never leave you alone again.”

Then she turned to Jumpy and Cheeku. “Thank you, my dear friends. You helped me find my lost baby.”

“We only did what good neighbours do,” said Cheeku, smiling.

“And I got to see a running egg for the first time in my life!” exclaimed Jumpy. They all laughed and walked to the river together.