Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Case of the Chocolate Thief


Bhanu, the eldest of the two brothers and two sisters complained to the other three, “Someone seems to be stealing my chocolates. I keep them at a hiding place in my bed room. But the hiding place is no more the hiding place because someone has found it out. I save few chocolates from the ones mom gives us and I keep them there. But lately, those chocolates have disappeared in thin air.”

The others three, Shanu, Kaju and Biju said at the same time, teasing Bhanu, “If you don’t eat those chocolates, why don’t you share them with us? See, we never save any of our chocolates; we eat them all and still want more. Had you given those chocolates to us, this thief would not have got any. And don’t even suspect that we are stealing the chocolates. If we want, we will ask and never steal.”

Bhanu was already angry because his chocolates were stolen by someone and on top of it, his brother Kaju and his sisters Shanu and Biju were teasing him. He got annoyed still more but controlled his anger and said, “It’s not a matter of joke. Suppose, the same thing happens to you, won’t you feel like catching the thief and punish him? And remember, I will never suspect you of stealing since you are such nice kids.”

Shanu, Kaju and Biju realizing that their things also could be stolen, felt alarmed and asked Bhanu, “Then, what do you suggest we do? Catch the thief red handed? Won’t it be fun?”

Bhanu retorted, “That’s what I had been hinting you guys and you started making fun of me. Yes, that’s exactly we all should do, catch the thief.”

Biju, the youngest of the four always liked solving such mysteries. She quipped excitedly, “Catching a thief could be such a thrill!” You must include me in this job. Shanu and Kaju suggested to Bhanu, “Why not make a plan?” Biju repeated, “Yes, why not make a plan. I will tell you what to do.”

Bhanu said, “Yes, let us put all of our heads together. Yes, Biju, you too. The thief seems to be a very cunning operator. He does it at night when we go to sleep. So, we will have to keep awake throughout the night to keep a watch on him.”

Biju said, “I have an idea. Let all of us not keep awake. We will take turns. Every one of us will keep awake just for two hours turn by turn. Others can go to sleep. We will all be sleeping in Bhanu’s bedroom tonight. Whosoever sees the thief will wake us the rest three and then, we will pounce at the thief together and catch him.”

All of them gave thumbs up to this plan.

After their dinner, all the four of them went to Bhanu’s bedroom. At sharp 10 PM, everyone went to sleep except Biju. Biju volunteered to be on the night guard first- she was so thrilled at the prospect of catching the thief. She was really curious to know who that thief was.

For the first two hours while Biju was awake and looking out for the thief, no one came into the room. So Biju was a bit disappointed. But as per the plan, now she was to sleep and Kaju was to be the guard. During Kaju’s two hours patrol also, the thief did not turn up. So he also went to sleep after his duty was over and now, Shanu took over.

It was now 2 o’clock in the night. The atmosphere was very quiet at the dead of the night. It was dark. It was also a bit frightening. Shanu was very alert and watchful. But she was not afraid at all. All along, she was absorbed in her thoughts about the thief and how to catch him. She guessed that the thief might choose the middle of the night as the opportune moment for stealing since this was the time when everyone got a sound sleep and would not wake up easily even if there were disturbances around.

And lo! There was someone who was entering the room. This someone was very cautious and moving around without making any noise. Now, the thief was crawling towards the hiding place where Bhanu had kept the chocolates. Shanu was not able to see the thief clearly since the room was all dark. She was trying to guess as to who that thief was. Was he the boy who stayed next door and was having a fight with them these days or was he someone else?

Shanu allowed the thief to move towards the hiding place. She wanted to catch the thief in the act of stealing, red handed. The thief had now almost reached the hiding place and was about to lift the chocolates. Just at that moment Shanu switch on all the lights of the room and woke up Bhanu, Kaju and Biju. Bhanu and Kaju, simultaneously, jumped on the thief and grabbed him. Biju closed the door of the room so that the thief would not run away.

And then, to their surprise, they found the thief was neither the boy next door nor any other human being but it was the black cat that used to loiter around their house for the past few days. They could never imagine that a cat could steal their chocolates. They locked the cat in a cage.

Next morning they told the entire episode of the night and how they caught the cat stealing the chocolates to their mom and dad. Mom and dad were very proud of Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju for their intelligence and bravery in solving the mystery of the thief. They also saw the thief, the black cat in the cage. They asked, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju what were they going to do with the cat.

Bhanu said, “We have got a gentleman’s promise from the cat that he would never steal again. He is ashamed of his act of stealing and is begging us to release him. What should we do?”

Mom and dad said, “Give the cat a chance. Since he is repenting and has promised never to steal again, you can release him from the cage now.”

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju agreed with their mom and dad’s suggestion and opened the door of the cage. The cat displayed his curtsy to all of them and thanked profusely for making him free. Then he said good bye and ran away.

Novels and Stories

Novel "Good People" http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/
Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/

The novel "Good People", "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" and "Stories Children Will Love" are available in the form of eBook and printed book from Amazon online. Hurry up, get your copies.

Friday, November 20, 2009

A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed

One fine day, early in the morning, Blacky bear was whistling and humming while he was strolling in the forest around his home. He was fond of singing too. He was crooning his favorite tune, “Tra ra rala, tra ra rala, tra ra rala…..” He was always in his excellent mood on breezy sunny days and surely, the day was sunny and breezy. The birds were in good mood too and they were chirping. They were continuously chattering and were keeping themselves very busy doing this or that. Various types of flowers with different colors were in bloom and their fragrance was spread in the air.

Affected by the wonderful environment all around, Blacky was in an utterly playful mood. He started chasing the butterflies of yellow, red, orange, violet and many other colors. Some of them were the polka dot types and others were plain. They were all very friendly with Blacky bear since they all stayed in the same jungle where Blacky bear resided. One of the butterflies, who was more playful than the others by name of Bina challenged him, “Blacky, you just can’t catch me. Run. Run after me and catch me. Can you?”

Blacky bear is all sports when challenged like this. He said, “Why, I will catch you. Don’t you know that I run faster than you, Bina?” And he started chasing the butterfly Bina.

Bina butterfly went on flying, fluttering her yellow and black polka dot wings. As Blacky bear reached near her to catch her, she would go high up in the air and Blacky would miss her once more. This game went on for a long time. Bina and Blacky were running in all kinds of directions and could not keep track of where they were going.

While playing this game, they did not realize that they had already entered into a nearby village. This village was not the familiar village for them. They had never been there earlier. They did not know anyone there. They did not have any friend in the village.

So, they decided to return to their forest. But as they were about to run away from the village, the villagers saw Blacky. Though Blacky is still a child, being a bear, he looks huge and anyone can spot him even from a distance. The villagers saw him but not the butterfly Bina since Bina butterfly is pretty tiny and not easily visible. Not only that, the villagers are never afraid of butterflies but they are always afraid of big animals like bears and leopards and tigers.

So, when the villagers spotted Blacky bear in their village, all of them got panicky. They started shouting and shooing him away. Blacky is a very clever bear. He started running away from the villagers but he did not know the exact way to return to his house. He had lost track of the direction.

Suddenly he saw a river nearby and he got a brilliant idea. He said to Bina, the butterfly, “The villagers are chasing me. They may try to throw stones at me to scare me. I wish to save myself from them. Therefore, if I go into the river and stand in the middle of the river, none of them will dare to swim into the river and come near me. So I will go and stand in the river. In the mean time, I request you to fly fast and go to Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh’s house. Tell him about what has happened. Ask him to reach this river in this village. He will figure out some tricks to save me and get me out of here.”

Accordingly, Blacky swam into the river and went right in the middle of it and stood still there. Villagers stayed on the banks of the river but none of them was brave enough to swim and go near Blacky.

Butterfly Bina flew very fast and reached Dholu Ram’s house in no time. She told the whole story to Dholu Ram and requested him to save Backy.

Dholu Ram said to Bina butterfly, “You show me the path and I will run behind you.” So, Bina flew in the direction of the river and Dholu Ram ran behind her real fast.

Within a few minutes, Dholu Ram reached near the river. He saw the whole lot of villagers there and also Blacky bear right in the middle of the river. He waved at Blacky bear and Blacky waved back. He gave a sigh of relief seeing Dholu there. He was fully confident that Dholu would find out some way of rescuing him.

Dholu Ram found out the chief of the village among the villagers and spoke with him. He said, “All of you need not be scared of the bear. He is Blacky bear and I know him very well. He is a great friend of mine. Did you see me waving at him and him waving back a few minutes ago?”

To this, the chief of village nodded in affirmation. Then, Dholu Ram said to the chief, “You ask the villagers to move away from the bank of the river. Nobody should throw stones at Blacky bear and no one should shout or panic. As you will clear the bank of the river, I will ask Blacky to come out of water. No one needs to be scared of him at all.”

The village chief ordered all the villagers to clear the bank of the river and they quietly obeyed him. Dholu Ram whistled at Blacky to indicate that it was safe for him to come out of the water and reach the bank of the river. Blacky swam and reached the bank.

Dholu Ram introduced Blacky bear and also Bina, the butterfly to the chief of the village and all the other villagers. All of them exchanged pleasantries. The villagers apologized to Blacky for their misbehavior with him. All of them became friends with each other. The villagers invited Dholu, Blacky and Bina to visit their village often.

Then Dholu, Blacky and Bina started for their homes. On the way, Blacky thanked Dholu Ram as well Bina for helping him out of the tricky situation he had got into. Dholu Ram and Bina said almost at the same time, “Blacky, You need not have to be formal with us and thank us. After all, what for are the friends?”

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/