A tale of him and her

They built their nest of love with care and affection. It was that time of the year, when they wanted to have babies. He asked her to rest and wait till he builds the nest for her. But she didn’t like being idle. He collected small twigs from the trees while she also collected sticks from the broom sticks kept in front of the house and a few pieces of thread. He came to the branch that they had selected to make their home. Choosing the place for the nest had not been so easy. They had to ensure that the place was not exposed to strong winds or a downpour or harsh sunlight. They searched a lot, before they finally decided to rest on the branch of a peepal tree. It was quite high from the ground, so there would no risk from the children and safe beneath a small bunch of leaves. The nest would almost be hidden from bare eyes. They thought this place would be safe.

As they got the initial materials required to build their home, she started putting them together. She twined one twig into another, making a pattern. She intertwined them well, so that there would be no weak links anywhere. She rolled the pieces of thread around the twigs she felt, might give away. After the base of the nest was built, he got a few dried leaves. She laid them on the base, making soft flooring for the nest. He kept bringing in more twigs, longer ones this time and she kept weaving it round and round. After a while and after lots of hard work from the couple, a beautiful nest was ready. He still felt something was amiss. He searched around, if something else he found could help. He found some cotton discarded. He carried it to her. She spread it around the nest to make their home really cozy for the new ones to arrive. She slowly settled in it and he sat at the edge of the nest. She rested on his feathers, while he let a sigh of relief.

Soon, it was time for her to lay her eggs. He was beside her all the time. He knew it was a tough time for her and she would need him. He got her the leaf she had to eat for an easy delivery. It pained a lot. She did not want to cry. She quietly bore the pain and after much patience and perseverance, she delivered two healthy eggs.  He was proud of her and knew she had the strength to pull through. This was a tough phase, but the remaining days would be tougher. They had to safe guard the eggs from the predators. She sat in the position to give maximum warmth to her eggs. She sat there endlessly. It was like she was meditating or in some form of tapas. She sat there day and night. He would get her food. She would eat it from the same position. She did not disturb the position a wee bit, fearing she would hurt the growth of her babies. She could not wait to see them. In the evenings, they discussed how their babies would look. He wanted them to look like her. He said she was beautiful and he wanted his kids to be like the love of his life.

Soon, she felt it was time for her to move away from her eggs. After a few days, they saw their eggs hatch. Two cute looking kids had emerged. They thanked God endlessly. They were really proud to be parents. They had looked forward all their lives to be one. He went out in search of food and got varieties of healthy fruits and vegetables for them. He would feed them lovingly. He got some juicy fruits and bit into them and gave them only the pulp. He was extra protective about his wife and his babies.  They were a happy family.

One morning, the babies were happily chirping till their father left. Then they were desperate to fly with their father and started crying out loud. The mother consoled them to no avail. The father was just around the big peepal tree, when an eagle flew down making a screeching noise. There was a lot of cacophony. The eagle was trying to attack their nest. It was trying to pick the young baby and fly away. She pulled both the babies under her wings and cried out loud. Hearing the noise around the nest, he turned back to see what happened. He was thrown out of gear to see the eagle attacking the nest. He flew with all his might to knock the eagle with his beak. While the eagle was attacking his love, he flew hard and knocked the eagle with his beak. The eagle hardly moved. The eagle started attacking him fiercely. He did not give up. He knocked the eagle again with all his might. The eagle suffered a little by the mighty blow. But being the big bird that it was, it attacked again. When she saw him suffer, she also attacked the eagle with all her might. They both pounded on the eagle and hit it repeatedly to save their babies. The babies were watching the event with a shock and crying out loud. The otherwise quiet place was filled with a lot of commotion from the birds. After having struggled hard they managed to chase the eagle away. Their babies were safe, but for how long they did not know. The fight today had got in a lot of confidence in them. They knew they could protect their babies under all circumstances. Or at least they will try to fight against all odds, beating on their lives. With a sigh a relief, she pulled her babies, under her wing and he pulled her into his.

This write-up was an inspiration from a post here. A visual impression was created in my mind after reading the post and I tried to narrate it. But the post has a tragic ending. I didn’t want my hero and heroine to lose the fight, so I gave a twist to the ending. Hope all readers enjoy it. :)