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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Kimo and the Beautiful Garden
Category: Short Story“So now I have my own place inside this enclosure,” said Kimo to itself. Kimo was a cute little bird born and living in a large enclosure with many other birds of various kinds. Unlike most of them, Kimo had not been pinioned because Kimo made such a fuss whenever an attempt was made to get its feather out. However, Kimo could not use its wings to get free from the enclosure, which had just a couple of doors and the whole of the enclosure was made inescapable with strong gauze all around. Birds could not break the gauze, though some birds were let out in the open at the discretion of the captors.
Outside was a beautiful garden with green grass and trees as well as fruits and flowers of different colors. Kimo could see the garden from behind the gauze but could not be a part of the garden because the captors had enlisted Kimo among the ‘problem birds’—those that did things against the will of the captors.
What use are my wings? Kimo sometimes thought. They carry me just a little distance, but never out of the prison. Now, when Kimo was taken to a more isolated place in one corner of the enclosure, it was happy to get a new place.
“Now I can sit in my place and watch the garden at leisure,” said Kimo itself. What fun it was to be in the new place!
After a few days, a very beautiful bird was let inside the enclosure close to the corner where Kimo lived.
“My name is Kimo,” said Kimo to the new bird. “What’s yours?”
“I’m Morella,” answered the pretty bird in its melodious voice. “I will be your neighbor.”
“That’s nice,” Kimo was happy. “We can eat together and play quiz.”
“That’ll be fun!” Morella too looked happy to find a nice friend like Kimo and Kimo thought life could be beautiful even inside a prison.
Kimo and Morella had a great time together, until one day when Kimo was ordered to change its place.
“I’ll be moving a little farther,” Kimo told Morella with a heavy heart. “But I’ll come to see you whenever I get a chance.” Moralla said it would be good to see Kimo whenever possible. Thus Kimo left its good friend and moved to the distant corner the captors had prepared for it. At first, Kimo missed Morella a lot and visited its old place whenever he could get time.
One day, the captors left the enclosure’s doors open and offered the feathered birds to get themselves pinioned in order to enjoy the beauty of the garden outside.
“My feathers are more precious to me than the garden,” Kimo persisted in refusing the offer. “These are my feathers that carry me to Morella. And what good is the garden when Morella is here, inside?” So Kimo chose to stay in the enclosure and visit Morella whenever possible. They supped together and played quiz and told jokes to each other.
It was many days after their last meeting when Kimo flew to visit Morella and found its corner empty.
“Where’s Morella?” Kimo asked one of the neighbors.
“Morella has been taken outside into the garden,” told one of the neighbors. “It won’t come inside again.”
“This can’t be!” Kimo’s heart was rent. Tears welled up in its eyes. “Morella’s beautiful feathers were plucked out by the captors?”
“No,” said the other bird. “Morella’s feathers were beautiful but they were of no use in flying. Morella was a bird without flight, so the captors did not need to get Morella pinioned. They just took it out to make the garden more beautiful with its presence there. And Morella was happy too.”
Kimo was so sad that it flew back to its dwelling corner with great difficulty. It could not sleep at all that night, knowing that it would not be able to see or talk to Morella again. Life had suddenly become a sad story, a burden so hard to carry.
In the morning, Kimo came to know that the captors were going to open all the enclosure doors one last time for the birds to get to the garden. The stipulation remained unchanged: getting pinioned for exiting the prison.
If I give my worthless feathers to the captors, I may be able to get to my friend Morella in the garden, Kimo thought. And what use are my feathers except for carrying me about in this enclosure? I can live a free life out in the garden with my friend Morella and enjoy the luxuries of the garden. But then, all of a sudden, the thought of losing its feathers flashed in its mind. These were the feathers that carried it to Morella. They were a treasure of freedom.
“How can I reach anyone or anywhere if I lose them?” Kimo asked itself. It had no answer to this question. The time for closing the doors was approaching. Kimo was looking at the garden through one of the open doors with wistful eyes.
“This is the last time I am asking you Kimo,” said one of the captors. “Are you going to give us your feathers so as to enter the beautiful garden?” Kimo looked at the captor, at the garden outside, and then at the enclosure where the rest of its life might be spent. Blood rushed up Kimo’s veins to its heart. Instead of answering the captor, Kimo flew with all its might to the remotest corner of the enclosure, beyond the reach of the captors’ voices.
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