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Saturday, August 13, 2011

Morito’s Wings

Once there lived a fox, named Morito, in Indonesia. Morito loved birds and he used to sit in the forest all day long, watching birds flying over the trees. Morito’s mother did not like this hobby of her son. She always advised him to take care of himself and find food instead of wasting time in bird-watching. But Morito would not listen to her. He wished he could fly in the air, high above the ground, like the birds. And he always thought of finding some way to do so.

One day, Morito met a heron who had come down to drink water at the lake.

“Pretty heron,” said Morito. “Your flight is so beautiful. I wish I could fly like you.”

“Oh, fool!” exclaimed the heron. “You cannot fly. You’ve got no wings and you are very heavy.”

“I know; but if I were light and had wings, I could fly then. Couldn’t I?” said Morito wistfully.

“Yes, of course, you could fly then,” answered the heron, and then she flew off. Morito was determined to fly. He went to the Jackal, the surgeon of the jungle.

“Take two of my legs, my tail, and all my teeth out. I want to be light,” he asked the Jackal and lay on the table before him. The surgeon skillfully cut off the parts Morito had named. Then, Morito went to the Rabbit, the craftsman of the jungle.

“I want you to make large wings for me, those like the heron’s,” he told the Rabbit.

“But what will you do with them?” asked the Rabbit in wonder.

“I will fly,” answered Morito, smiling in excitement. The Rabbit laughed at Morito’s toothless mouth. He made wings for Morito. Holding the wings, Morito returned to the surgeon and said, “Put these wings to my body so that I may fly with them.” The smart surgeon did as had been asked.
Now Morito could fly. He was all joy in the air, even though he had difficulty in eating and walking whenever he landed on the ground. But he did not care much. All he wanted was to fly high with the birds.

After some days, when Morito was flying high over the ocean, the weather suddenly changed. Strong wind blew all around, pushing Morito down, close to the ocean. He became frightened and looked around, crying for help. There wasn’t any bird in the air. Morito could not hold himself up against the wind for long. It forced him down and he fell in the ocean. His wings got wet and heavy. He could not fly now neither could he swim because he had lost two legs. And since he had no teeth, he could not get hold of anything by means of his mouth.

The storm grew fiercer and Morito began to drown in the ocean.

“Ah! If I only had my legs, I would have saved myself,” he said to himself. Just then, a large wave fell on him and buried him down into the water, forever.