Piggu pig ran a poultry farm with healthy hens that laid many eggs. Piggu took good care of the hens and sold the eggs in the market.
One evening, when Piggu was getting ready to leave for the market to sell eggs, it began pouring. Piggu thought he’ll wait for the rain to slow down and then leave. However, it didn’t stop till dusk and Piggu decided to go to the market the next day.
Next morning, when Piggu came to collect eggs from the farm, he was shocked to see them missing. He looked everywhere but couldn’t find them.
Sad and disturbed, Piggu came back home. His daughter, Pinky saw him and asked, “Daddy, I thought you had gone to the market. How come you are back
so soon?”
“I have no reason to go to the market now,” Piggu replied sadly.
“Why don’t you have a reason to go to the market? And why are you sad? Please tell me,” Pinky asked, concerned.
“The eggs I was supposed to sell at the market have been stolen. I looked for them everywhere in the farm but couldn’t find,” replied Piggu.
“What! How did this happen? Let’s go back to the farm. I will help you look for the eggs again,” said Pinky.
Piggu and Pinky went back to the farm.
“I should have gone to the market yesterday. If I had taken the eggs yesterday, they wouldn’t have been stolen,” Piggu berated himself.
Pinky consoled her father, “Don’t worry daddy. We will find the thief who stole the eggs. The rain will help us.” And, she started observing the marks in the wet mud near the farm.
Piggu didn’t think the eggs would be found. “I know that you are fond of reading detective stories and watching such movies, but this is not a child’s play. I know I will never get the eggs back,” he said, hopelessly.
Pinky didn’t pay attention to what her dad said. She keenly observed the wet mud. “Look there, daddy! There are some tyre marks and footprints coming out of the farm. It looks like someone took the eggs in a handcart,” she pointed.
Still not hopeful of getting the eggs, Piggu asked, “How will this clue help us find who took our eggs?”
Pinky replied patiently, “We will follow these marks to where they lead. It will take us to the house of the thief who has stolen our eggs in this handcart.”
Somewhat convinced, Piggu followed the marks with Pinky. After a while, they reached a grassy stretch over which the tyre marks disappeared.
“Now, what should we do?” said Piggu losing the faint flicker of hope.
“Don’t lose heart, daddy. At least we got a direction. Let’s go ahead and look for more clues,” replied Pinky.
After walking for some more distance, they noticed three carts that were kept in front of three different houses.
Pinky observed the tyre marks carefully and said, “Daddy, out of the three, the tyre marks on two of the carts match with the one we have been following. But one handcart’s tyres are clean, while the other one still has fresh mud on it. This is it! The house with the dirty handcart is where our thief lives and he used it to steal the eggs.”
“This is Danny donkey’s house. I caught my thief! Let me teach him a lesson,” said Piggu marching towards the door and thumping on it loudly.
“Wait, I am coming. You will break the door!” said Danny’s voice from inside as he rushed to open the door.
Piggu pushed Danny down and asked, “Where have you hidden my eggs?” and stomped inside, looking for them in Danny’s house but not finding them.
“What eggs? I do not understand what you are saying,” said Danny getting up.
“Don’t act innocent. We followed the tyre marks from my poultry farm and saw your muddy cart outside your house. Isn’t that your muddy cart outside?” asked Piggu.
“Yes, that is my cart. But I am unwell and haven’t left my house at all. That’s why the wheels are muddy,” explained Danny.
“You are lying! You have hidden my eggs somewhere,” Piggu accused Danny.
Danny tried to convince him and said, “Why would I lie, brother? We are friends and I would never steal eggs from you.”
Pinky quickly interrupted and said, “Daddy, please have patience. Danny uncle is right. He has not stolen our eggs.”
She looked at Danny and asked, “Uncle, do you know someone who has hurt his left leg and is limping?”
Danny thought for a moment and replied, “No child, I don’t know anyone.”
“Hmm. Is there any hospital or doctor’s clinic nearby?” Pinky asked.
“Yes, Dr Bhallu bear’s clinic is ten minutes away,” replied Danny and shared the doctor’s address with Pinky. Pinky thanked him and rushed towards the clinic with Piggu.
Confused, Piggu said, “Why are we going to the clinic instead of finding the thief who stole the eggs!”
Before Pinky could answer, they had reached the clinic.
She went to the desk where the doctor and nurse were sitting and politely asked, “Doctor, we are looking for someone who has hurt his left leg and is limping. Can you please tell us if anyone like that has come to your clinic?”
The doctor paused for a moment and said, “Yes, Belu hyena’s left hind leg is wounded. He comes here to get it bandaged.”
Pinky asked, “Will he be coming today also?”
“Yes, he comes in the evening,” Kerry cat, the nurse, replied.
Pinky was now restless. “We can’t wait till evening. Can you please share his address?” she asked.
“We can’t share his address but he must be living nearby as he comes walking in spite of the injury,” Kerry replied.
Pinky thanked Kerry and left the clinic.
Still confused, Piggu asked, “Why did you want to know who was injured? Why are we after Belu?”
“Because Belu is the thief,” Pinky said, confidently. Pigu and Pinky asked around and they found Belu’s house.
When Piggu and Pinky reached Belu’s house, he got scared.
“Belu, did you steal our eggs?” asked Piggu.
When he didn’t say anything, Piggu angrily went in to search the house and found the eggs. Since Belu was hurt, he couldn’t run away.
“Do you accept your crime?” asked Piggu looking at Belu.
“Yes, I stole the eggs. When I saw you leave the eggs at the farm because it was pouring, I found the perfect opportunity to steal them. I saw that Danny wasn’t around and took his cart to steal the eggs and run away.”
Piggu handed Belu over to the police.
While returning home, Piggu praised Pinky and said, “You have become a great detective. But how did you know that Belu stole the eggs?”
“Daddy, along with the tyres marks, I looked closely and studied the footprints also. While three of the four footprints were deep, one was barely visible. I understood that the thief had one injured leg and was limping,” replied Pinky.
“Danny uncle wasn’t injured, so I understood that he wasn’t the thief. Since Danny uncle didn’t know of anyone who was injured, I figured that the thief must be someone who has been hurt recently. That’s the reason I took you to the nearest clinic to find out who had been injured,” added Pinky.
Piggu was proud of his daughter and thanked her for not losing hope.
Thereafter, talks about Pinky’s wisdom spread throughout the forest
I loved the stories… its was lovely.