Friday, January 20, 2006

The Tale of The Crows

Crows are wonderful birds. They will never run out of food to eat. Till the last human being is alive on this earth, filth will be created, and the crow needs nothing more than that for making itself a feast.

I wonder why they haven't been declared as the national bird yet. I mean, the real national bird doyel is very hard to find; especially when it comes to the capital city. Everywhere the eyes can gaze, you'll find those wonderfully black colored avian species, with a nuance of ash around their necks. Well, there are some crows whom are entirely black; you ought to call them ravens. Ravens are supposed to be a bit more aggressive and dangerous than crows.

If you have something eatable, and unprotected in front of you, it is very much likely that crows will flock in to feast. This happens more under the empty sky, and hence the need for scarecrows has arisen.

What's a scarecrow? It's a crow that scares? Not really. It's something of an effigy, which appears frightening towards the crowkind! Scarecrows can be wonderfully decorated; as seen in numerous western cartoon shows—cute little humanoids with a Halloween pumpkin as the head, and real jacket, shirt and jeans for wearing. However, underneath their dress, most scarecrows are hay-built.

The crow, despite of being a sly bird, can get frightened by the likes of these apparently silly and dumb imitations of human beings. There is another funny fact about crows, which tells us that after laying eggs, the crows close their eyes and hide them, believing that no one else has seen the hiding place. This is because when he keeps his eyes shut (actually this'll be a she), the world becomes dark, and nobody sees anything. Foolish, self-obsessed birdling...

There was this cartoon show, where a poor gentleman was struggling to fend off smart and talking grows with big beaks from his precious corn field. When I was younger (and still, too), I found the cartoon extremely funny, as the crows were working as a team and they also had a good sense of humor. When I look back at my childhood, I can see that cartoons have created a lasting impact upon me. When I saw the cartoon in context, I really got curious about corn, and I actually asked my mom to get one for me. The same thing happened after seeing Popeye...spinach became one of my favorite vegetables (and it is still on the favorites list).

Some crows were keeping the farmer busy, while others were swooping over the field and taking away mouthful of corns. There was a scarecrow over there, but he received harassment and mockery from the clever crows.

I still remember my first encounter with a raven. Before seeing the grave looking bird, I actually heard a very frightening story about my cousin being hit by the beak of a raven during a cricket match. You know how these stories affect a child's mind; since hearing the story, I had a deep fear of being hit by a raven in the head. And then the fateful day came.

I and my cousins used to hang out a lot on the rooftop of our house. There was a mini garden up there, and there were two water tanks. However, there was also ample space for playing games like football and cricket. That day, I went up early. My companions were yet to reach. Then I saw it. A fiery looking crow sitting on top of one of the water tanks. The moment I saw it, I knew something was missing. Yes, the ash complexion was missing, and all doubts were washed away, when I heard the bird crowing. The sound was distinct. It was a lot more hoarse and commanding than a regular crow's crowing. My eyes were transfixed upon the bird for quite some time. It was unusually large for a crow, and if I didn't knew what a raven was, I might as well mistake it as a vulture, or some other evil bird. When I noticed some wing movement, I ran downstairs.

You know about fear factors, right? I had a worst fear in my mind, which haunted me occasionally. The fear of being used as the crow's walking toilet was a great fear for me, and one day I thought I felt a bullet missing my ears, nearly, when a dear friend walking besides me got toileted by a flying crow.

Three of us used to walk over the long rail lines during the class break, everyday. It was a 40 minute break, a break too small to go home and have lunch, but just well enough for grabbing something to eat and having a pleasant walk by the broad road and the rail lines.

Eventually, I got attacked by the crow as well. I felt a sudden cold feeling on top of the head, only to remember that it was a bright shiny day, and there is no chance of rain drops assuming that big a size. Moreover, raindrops never had the splattering effect that my head just experienced. Without thinking, I used my left hand to examine, and with a fearful shriek, I realized the painful reality. My friends were laughing, but the lent me a helping hand by offering a tissue. I had a walk a while to reach the nearest shop, and I was more than pleased to have washed my head and hands with almost a liter of water.

That was a long time ago, and it's still my only crow-toileted experience. Back in those days, there was nothing called mineral water, and you couldn't just buy water from places. People would gladly provide water when someone asked for it, but nowadays if you go to a shop and nag about the cleanliness of the water that has been offered to you in an apparently not-clean glass, they will just ask you to get yourself a 10 TK bottle of water.

There are many stories involving clever crows. But are they really clever creatures? I don't know for sure. There are some stories about dumb crows as well. Perhaps the crow that dropped a piece of cheese whilst being prompted by a fox to sing was the dumbest of all. I mean, you don't sing when a fox asks you to do so. Why would you do that, especially when it's general knowledge that one should never trust a fox?

The story goes like this. A crow has found a piece of cheese, and right before he was going to devour it, a fox comes by. The fox was really hungry, and he devised a clever plan for snatching the cheese from the bird, in a harmless way. He said "O dear crow, how are you? It's been a while since I last heard you sing. You have the sweetest voice of all". The crow, being dumb, got flattered, and started singing. As birds have no hands, the cheese fell from his beak as soon as he started singing (well, it could've been a she as well), the piece of cheese fell. The fox snatched the cheese and walked away happily. The stupid crow was so busy singing that it didn't even notice its loss.

Crows are wonderful birds, they will stay with us as long as we exist.