Why the bat is active only at night?

One day a stag and a tortoise saw a python that was gliding their way. The stag suggested jumping over the big snake. The tortoise could not jump, though the stag encouraged it to try. The stag jumped first and got clearly over the snake.

When the tortoise jumped, it fell right on top of the snake’s eggs. The stag ran without trying to help the tortoise which had no other means to escape the anger of the snake except by rolling itself down the slope of the hill. It rolled down the slope and fell right into the nest of a bear. The tortoise explained that it was in such a hurry to escape the big snake that it did not really see where it was going.

At the same time it requested the bear to help it. The bear replied that it had no power against the big snake. In fact the bear was also afraid of the snake. It urged the tortoise to run on. It met a tiger and asked for help. The tiger was afraid of the big snake too.

he tortoise ran on and met an eagle. When it was asked to help, it agreed and hid the tortoise under its left wing. Soon the big snake appeared. It asked the bird where the tortoise was.

“No tortoise came here.”

“I don’t believe you. The marks of a tortoise’s feet stop here. You must have hidden it somewhere near here”

“You could check if you don’t believe me.”

“Spread out your wings.”

The eagle spread out its right wing but it did not lift its left wing because it was not good. The big snake looked closely and saw the legs of a tortoise from under the left wing of the eagle.

For helping the tortoise, the eagle and snake quarreled. This led to a fight between animals and birds. Birds had their headquarters at a big banyan tree where the animals came to attack them.

The big snake hissed at the tree with such vigour that many of its branches fell down. Small birds trembled with fright while all animals cheered at the prowess of the big snake. The snake again hissed. It seemed that the animals were about to win the battle.

The bat left the tree and joined the animals as it was more of a bat than a bird. Meanwhile, little birds attacked the worms and insects. The eagle made a desperate effort to snatch away the big snake. As the snake was wounded, all the birds cheered. The bat came back to the tree by saying that by its flying power it must be called a bird.

The big snake with all its might and attacked the tree again. Unfortunately, its head was caught in the branches of the tree. Before it could set itself free, the eagle killed the snake. The birds stopped all attack on the animals and the battle was over.

All the creatures resumed their normal everyday life except the bat. No one wanted to have anything to do with it. It was known to be insincere. That drove it to hide during the day and it came out only at night.

Kalai Selvi Arivalagan

Growing up in an environment enriched with colours of nature adorned with sounds of machines, I enjoyed life with all challenges. Nature is always a great teacher that teaches empathy to live and let live others. Though I am now living in an urban environment, the lesson that nature taught me motivates and allows me to keep on writing. I will always remember the cool afternoons in the shades of trees that made me write more on love.