A beautiful night adorned by a crescent moon filling up the sky with a light shimmer, a hint of silver amidst the clouds. A little bit of the shimmer sprinkled on the mountains below on the sides of a serene lake, making the atmosphere mysterious like a far distant illusion. A feeling that the night had just begun to wear out only for the early dawn to embrace the sky filled the scene. As if it is waiting in the wings of the space to spread its blanket of brightness over the mysterious darkness of the night. A small boy, acting as a spectator of this magical hide and seek of the night and the dawn is sitting in the corner of the lake alone, thinking, enjoying the solitude.
"Excellent" said Murthy Sir. "A beautiful piece of art indeed" said Sir "Thank you Sir" said Kabir. "But, there could have been a little bit of mix of colors to complete this painting." said Murthy Sir. "But we do not get enough stock of colors in our school sir" said a sad Kabir while picking up his school bag to venture out on his favorite trip to the woods nearby the village. Before Murthy could comment Kabir said a quick bye to sir and vanished far away. He kept walking with a slumped schoolbag, holding his painting against his chest, he just kept walking. Kicking the small stones on the way and glancing at the birds on the trees he made his way to the nearby woods. Tired and sad he settled down on his favorite spot at the lakeside. He kept looking at the painting as he wished he had more colors to complete it. Kabir was extremely fond of painting. It was his passion. He loved to draw and then fill his drawings with colors. But the school in the village couldn’t afford to provide enough sets of color boxes to its students. Hence they had to be satisfied with a limited stock of colors. One could get lucky once in a while if he received a complete set of colors. But it was very rare.
Kabir started sobbing as he kept looking at his painting. Thousand thoughts flashed his mind before he realized that one of his tear drop came rolling down his cheeks on the painting. It kind of blotted a bit but Kabir was not bothered as he was very sad. "Anyway I’m not able to complete it with just a few colors" he thought to himself. "Hello" an unknown voice exclaimed. At first Kabir thought it was just an illusion, hence didn’t pay much attention. "Why are you sad?" a question in a mysterious voice popped from nowhere. Kabir was now sure that somebody was talking to him. He looked around him, but there was nobody. He got a little confused. "I said why you are crying?" Now sensing the direction of the voice Kabir looked on his right. A yellow flower swayed. "Oh yeah it’s me. I’m called the yellow daisy".
Kabir threw himself back, shocked to even think about what he had just experienced. A flower was talking to him. Yes! "Oh don’t be scared I won’t harm you. I’m just a normal flower stuck to this stem for my life I can’t move as you can see. I can only sway. But hey I can talk like humans!" Kabir could still not gather himself to believe what he was seeing. He kept staring at the flower in astonishment. "Aa haa… well now please come close, believe me dear boy. I’m just a flower and I want to help you. You look sad." "Yes… mmm…me…I’m…But…! Kabir gathered the courage to speak a few words. "Ok now should I tell you what’s on your mind?" "You know?" asked a shocked Kabir. "Yes. You love colors. You love to paint but you do not have enough stock of colors isn’t it?" Kabir with a wide open mouth, even more puzzled said a silent yes. "Heheheh now you must be wondering how can I read your mind? Well yeah I’m gifted. Actually everybody on this planet is, but we need to realize our powers. I did and now you see I can talk", said the flower.
All this was too confusing and shocking for Kabir but it raised his curiosity and he struck a conversation with the flower. "You really can talk, vow! This is magic. How can you... Well you just told me yeah... I mean …see …you know…" Seeing the plight of poor Kabir, the flower helped him. "Well I completely understand why you’re so confused. But you got to believe that I can talk and also I can help you. "How?" popped a question from a bewildered Kabir. "I mean you know my problem you said, so what is the solution" "Hmm. Ok. I can see you create beautiful paintings. It’s your passion. But you don’t have enough colors. So I have a solution". "Please tell me the solution my dear friend" interrupted an impatient Kabir. "Well ok so as you see I attract a lot of butterflies who visit me to enjoy my nectar.
To do so they sit on my crown and become busy collecting the nectar. You know what makes butterflies so beautiful. It’s the colors on their wings. Am I Right?" "Yes" said Kabir yet not clear what the flower was getting at. "Their wings are filled with plenty of colors. So when they come and sit on my crown you can delicately catch hold of one and just brush your finger on their wings. Then you will see colors on that finger of yours which you can collect in color bottles". "Oh really can I do that? This is amazing. Is this really possible?" "Yes it is! If I can talk, anything is possible?" said the flower. "As I said God has given a gift to everyone.
Butterflies have a lot of natural and vibrant colors. So you can paint and fill in your drawings with many colors. You can catch hold of the butterflies, but be careful not to harm them. They are very beautiful and sensitive creatures. HANDLE WITH CARE!" the flower said in a rather strict voice. "I don’t believe this. This is truly amazing. Now I can complete my paintings. Thank you so much my friend. You have made me so happy. Ok bye I shall come tomorrow. I want to draw, paint a lot. Bye. See you" Kabir started hurriedly on his way back home. "Bye. Do come back…." the flower kept talking to an excited Kabir who quickly vanished in to the woods.
Kabir drew a lot, painted a lot, with the exciting thought of colors. Now I can get as many colors as possible. He murmured to himself. The next day Kabir came to visit the flower. A beautiful colorful butterfly had already settled on its crown. "Vow!" He slowly went close and with a quick reflex held the butterfly. He quickly brushed his finger on its wings and looked at his finger. Strokes of Blue, Green, and Yellow shone bright. He held the butterfly in one and kept the color palette on the ground. He brushed his fingers on the color palette to collect the colors. "Now that’s enough don’t borrow too many as that will cause pain to the butterfly. Release him now" said the flower. Kabir obeyed. He looked at his color bottles. He couldn’t believe this magic.
There were yellows, blues, and greens. He was overjoyed. And they were so beautiful, natural and vibrant colors unlike the artificial ones. He smiled and smiled and couldn’t thank the flower enough. The flower was too happy to see Kabir happy. "Thank you my friend. You have done a great favor to me." "No it’s not a favor. "Sometimes God gives you what you want in a different manner but only if you truly want it. You must value it" said the flower philosophically. Unable to interpret much Kabir said hurriedly "Oh, well I can’t wait to paint can I please go home. I shall come back tomorrow with my painting." "Ok" and the flower said goodbye.
The next day Kabir returned with his painting and showed it to the flower excitedly. "Simply beautiful, see, you too are gifted, boy" "Oh I loved those colors. I painted the whole night until my color bottles were empty. So you see I have come for more." "Well where is the butterfly? I can’t wait to catch it" "Have patience" here it comes" the flower was partially covered with the butterfly. Today it was a plain lemon yellow with a hint of crimson red. Kabir was overjoyed. He slowly approached the butterfly but missed it for a minute. It again settled on the flower. "Be careful" reminded the flower. The butterfly changed his plan to settle hearing the voice of the flower. "Oops! Sorry I scared the butterfly" The butterfly again came close and slowly looking for any danger settled on the flower.
Kabir immediately held it and picked the colors to his fill. He then slowly released it. He waved goodbye and painted that night. This went on for many days. One day Kabir was waiting for the next butterfly. A beautiful, never-seen-before-like butterfly settled on the flower. It brightened Kabir’s eyes to see so many unique colors on one butterfly. He slowly held it and collected the colors but he couldn’t have enough of it. He requested the flower to be allowed to take the butterfly home. The flower was hesitant as it was against his rules. The flower reluctantly agreed on one condition that he shall not harm the butterfly. "Trust me I shall not harm him" pleaded Kabir. "Ok but return tomorrow early morning with the butterfly, I will be waiting" "Ok I will come, bye" Kabir disappeared in the woods.
Next day dawned. The flower was waiting for Kabir to return. It was late noon and Kabir had still not come back with the butterfly. This worried the flower to the core. He understood something must be wrong. All sorts of thoughts started coming to his mind. He thought Kabir betrayed him. But no he couldn’t bring himself to believe it, as he was too scared to face it. So he thought maybe Kabir was not well. He must be busy doing something else…Somehow the fear of Kabir not returning at all slowly started hovering on his mind. Kabir indeed didn’t return that day.
Back home Kabir was painting a new drawing, filling in colors relentlessly. He was picking up colors from the butterfly the whole night and the following day, as much as he wanted because he had now trapped the butterfly. He couldn’t let go of it. He was overpowered by greed to keep the butterfly trapped and break the rules set by the flower. He drew a huge drawing and kept on filling in the colors. After some time he found that the colors were not as bright and as vibrant as before. But he continued to paint.
He fiercely opened the case in which he had trapped the butterfly. It was not the same butterfly anymore. The colors had faded much to his shock, it appeared lifeless and there was no movement. Kabir had still not understood the seriousness of the situation. He held the butterfly in his hands hurriedly out of the fear that it might fly away, but no, it couldn’t. It couldn’t move either and all the remaining faded colors just sprinkled down on the floor. The butterfly was dead. Kabir slowly understood what had happened and also realized that he had killed the butterfly by trapping it.
His eyes filled with tears, he tried talking to the butterfly, he slowly blew air on his wings, tried every way to bring it back to life but in vain. It was lifeless. But the greed to show his painting to the school overpowered him so much that he left the butterfly there and rushed to school. Since he had spoken a lot about it, everyone gathered to see it. Kabir slowly unfolded his painting in front of the class expecting an overwhelming reaction from everyone. But there was pin drop silence in the class. Kabir could see confused faces. He couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.
"Where are the colors Kabir?" Murthy Sir asked Kabir in a deem voice. "What? I mean… err…" What are you saying?" Kabir asked, glancing at the painting. To his shock it was blank. There were only outlines seen. No colors. Kabir stood like a statue in shock, speechless. His classmates started squealing and then slowly laughter burst across the classroom much to Kabir’s shame. He couldn’t even run away as he had still not gathered himself to what had happened with him. The butterfly had betrayed me is what he thought. Kabir, who was too embarrassed to face anyone, ran out of school straight to his house but the guilt of the dead butterfly was hovering over him.
Thousand thoughts crossed his mind, he felt guilty and he thought about the flower. He couldn’t face him. He did not return to the woods for many days. He kept the painting covered.
Then one fine day he decided to meet the flower and tell him the truth. He held the butterfly carefully as strictly instructed by the flower and trailed off to the woods. "Yellow Daisy…" said Kabir in a murmur to the flower. The flower instantly recognized Kabir’s voice and before he could ask anything Kabir explained everything to the flower. There was a big silence, the flower did not react. He then spoke in an angry tone "Now I know why humans are humans and I thank God that though God has given me a very short life he didn’t make me a human being, because we flowers only bring happiness to others in this short life, unlike you humans who know only to hurt others. You don’t value what God has bestowed upon you. I also curse myself that I can talk like humans, I want God to take away this gift from Me." said the angry flower. "I trusted you Kabir. Trusted you with the poor butterfly’s life and you just proved that you are a human being. Shame on you and please leave."
Kabir walked off quietly as he knew he had wronged the flower and there was no way he could undo what had happened. Days passed and one day Kabir returned to the flower. But the flower looked pale. It wasn’t as vibrant as it used to be. Kabir slowly opened the painting that he had created. It was a huge painting of the butterfly he had trapped. The flower observed but didn’t react. "This is my best painting I have ever created but I’m feeling extremely guilty for harming the butterfly…So please punish Me." said a sad Kabir. "No" said the flower "You have already got the punishment." A puzzled Kabir looked at the flower. "Yes, do you know why there were no colors in your painting?" Kabir was distracted by something. It was the same butterfly which had died. He was shocked to see it and looked at the flower.
"Now you understand where the colors from your painting disappeared. Well I returned them back to the butterfly and thus it got its life back. Your painting of the butterfly shall always remain devoid of colors to remind you of what you had done and what not to do. Please go back and live a good life my friend I shall always remember our friendship" Kabir on hearing this rushed back home to find the butterfly but there was no sign of the dead butterfly. He understood what had happened and as a memory of the butterfly, kept the case with him carefully forever.
"Excellent" said Murthy Sir. "A beautiful piece of art indeed" said Sir "Thank you Sir" said Kabir. "But, there could have been a little bit of mix of colors to complete this painting." said Murthy Sir. "But we do not get enough stock of colors in our school sir" said a sad Kabir while picking up his school bag to venture out on his favorite trip to the woods nearby the village. Before Murthy could comment Kabir said a quick bye to sir and vanished far away. He kept walking with a slumped schoolbag, holding his painting against his chest, he just kept walking. Kicking the small stones on the way and glancing at the birds on the trees he made his way to the nearby woods. Tired and sad he settled down on his favorite spot at the lakeside. He kept looking at the painting as he wished he had more colors to complete it. Kabir was extremely fond of painting. It was his passion. He loved to draw and then fill his drawings with colors. But the school in the village couldn’t afford to provide enough sets of color boxes to its students. Hence they had to be satisfied with a limited stock of colors. One could get lucky once in a while if he received a complete set of colors. But it was very rare.
Kabir started sobbing as he kept looking at his painting. Thousand thoughts flashed his mind before he realized that one of his tear drop came rolling down his cheeks on the painting. It kind of blotted a bit but Kabir was not bothered as he was very sad. "Anyway I’m not able to complete it with just a few colors" he thought to himself. "Hello" an unknown voice exclaimed. At first Kabir thought it was just an illusion, hence didn’t pay much attention. "Why are you sad?" a question in a mysterious voice popped from nowhere. Kabir was now sure that somebody was talking to him. He looked around him, but there was nobody. He got a little confused. "I said why you are crying?" Now sensing the direction of the voice Kabir looked on his right. A yellow flower swayed. "Oh yeah it’s me. I’m called the yellow daisy".
Kabir threw himself back, shocked to even think about what he had just experienced. A flower was talking to him. Yes! "Oh don’t be scared I won’t harm you. I’m just a normal flower stuck to this stem for my life I can’t move as you can see. I can only sway. But hey I can talk like humans!" Kabir could still not gather himself to believe what he was seeing. He kept staring at the flower in astonishment. "Aa haa… well now please come close, believe me dear boy. I’m just a flower and I want to help you. You look sad." "Yes… mmm…me…I’m…But…! Kabir gathered the courage to speak a few words. "Ok now should I tell you what’s on your mind?" "You know?" asked a shocked Kabir. "Yes. You love colors. You love to paint but you do not have enough stock of colors isn’t it?" Kabir with a wide open mouth, even more puzzled said a silent yes. "Heheheh now you must be wondering how can I read your mind? Well yeah I’m gifted. Actually everybody on this planet is, but we need to realize our powers. I did and now you see I can talk", said the flower.
All this was too confusing and shocking for Kabir but it raised his curiosity and he struck a conversation with the flower. "You really can talk, vow! This is magic. How can you... Well you just told me yeah... I mean …see …you know…" Seeing the plight of poor Kabir, the flower helped him. "Well I completely understand why you’re so confused. But you got to believe that I can talk and also I can help you. "How?" popped a question from a bewildered Kabir. "I mean you know my problem you said, so what is the solution" "Hmm. Ok. I can see you create beautiful paintings. It’s your passion. But you don’t have enough colors. So I have a solution". "Please tell me the solution my dear friend" interrupted an impatient Kabir. "Well ok so as you see I attract a lot of butterflies who visit me to enjoy my nectar.
To do so they sit on my crown and become busy collecting the nectar. You know what makes butterflies so beautiful. It’s the colors on their wings. Am I Right?" "Yes" said Kabir yet not clear what the flower was getting at. "Their wings are filled with plenty of colors. So when they come and sit on my crown you can delicately catch hold of one and just brush your finger on their wings. Then you will see colors on that finger of yours which you can collect in color bottles". "Oh really can I do that? This is amazing. Is this really possible?" "Yes it is! If I can talk, anything is possible?" said the flower. "As I said God has given a gift to everyone.
Butterflies have a lot of natural and vibrant colors. So you can paint and fill in your drawings with many colors. You can catch hold of the butterflies, but be careful not to harm them. They are very beautiful and sensitive creatures. HANDLE WITH CARE!" the flower said in a rather strict voice. "I don’t believe this. This is truly amazing. Now I can complete my paintings. Thank you so much my friend. You have made me so happy. Ok bye I shall come tomorrow. I want to draw, paint a lot. Bye. See you" Kabir started hurriedly on his way back home. "Bye. Do come back…." the flower kept talking to an excited Kabir who quickly vanished in to the woods.
Kabir drew a lot, painted a lot, with the exciting thought of colors. Now I can get as many colors as possible. He murmured to himself. The next day Kabir came to visit the flower. A beautiful colorful butterfly had already settled on its crown. "Vow!" He slowly went close and with a quick reflex held the butterfly. He quickly brushed his finger on its wings and looked at his finger. Strokes of Blue, Green, and Yellow shone bright. He held the butterfly in one and kept the color palette on the ground. He brushed his fingers on the color palette to collect the colors. "Now that’s enough don’t borrow too many as that will cause pain to the butterfly. Release him now" said the flower. Kabir obeyed. He looked at his color bottles. He couldn’t believe this magic.
There were yellows, blues, and greens. He was overjoyed. And they were so beautiful, natural and vibrant colors unlike the artificial ones. He smiled and smiled and couldn’t thank the flower enough. The flower was too happy to see Kabir happy. "Thank you my friend. You have done a great favor to me." "No it’s not a favor. "Sometimes God gives you what you want in a different manner but only if you truly want it. You must value it" said the flower philosophically. Unable to interpret much Kabir said hurriedly "Oh, well I can’t wait to paint can I please go home. I shall come back tomorrow with my painting." "Ok" and the flower said goodbye.
The next day Kabir returned with his painting and showed it to the flower excitedly. "Simply beautiful, see, you too are gifted, boy" "Oh I loved those colors. I painted the whole night until my color bottles were empty. So you see I have come for more." "Well where is the butterfly? I can’t wait to catch it" "Have patience" here it comes" the flower was partially covered with the butterfly. Today it was a plain lemon yellow with a hint of crimson red. Kabir was overjoyed. He slowly approached the butterfly but missed it for a minute. It again settled on the flower. "Be careful" reminded the flower. The butterfly changed his plan to settle hearing the voice of the flower. "Oops! Sorry I scared the butterfly" The butterfly again came close and slowly looking for any danger settled on the flower.
Kabir immediately held it and picked the colors to his fill. He then slowly released it. He waved goodbye and painted that night. This went on for many days. One day Kabir was waiting for the next butterfly. A beautiful, never-seen-before-like butterfly settled on the flower. It brightened Kabir’s eyes to see so many unique colors on one butterfly. He slowly held it and collected the colors but he couldn’t have enough of it. He requested the flower to be allowed to take the butterfly home. The flower was hesitant as it was against his rules. The flower reluctantly agreed on one condition that he shall not harm the butterfly. "Trust me I shall not harm him" pleaded Kabir. "Ok but return tomorrow early morning with the butterfly, I will be waiting" "Ok I will come, bye" Kabir disappeared in the woods.
Next day dawned. The flower was waiting for Kabir to return. It was late noon and Kabir had still not come back with the butterfly. This worried the flower to the core. He understood something must be wrong. All sorts of thoughts started coming to his mind. He thought Kabir betrayed him. But no he couldn’t bring himself to believe it, as he was too scared to face it. So he thought maybe Kabir was not well. He must be busy doing something else…Somehow the fear of Kabir not returning at all slowly started hovering on his mind. Kabir indeed didn’t return that day.
Back home Kabir was painting a new drawing, filling in colors relentlessly. He was picking up colors from the butterfly the whole night and the following day, as much as he wanted because he had now trapped the butterfly. He couldn’t let go of it. He was overpowered by greed to keep the butterfly trapped and break the rules set by the flower. He drew a huge drawing and kept on filling in the colors. After some time he found that the colors were not as bright and as vibrant as before. But he continued to paint.
He fiercely opened the case in which he had trapped the butterfly. It was not the same butterfly anymore. The colors had faded much to his shock, it appeared lifeless and there was no movement. Kabir had still not understood the seriousness of the situation. He held the butterfly in his hands hurriedly out of the fear that it might fly away, but no, it couldn’t. It couldn’t move either and all the remaining faded colors just sprinkled down on the floor. The butterfly was dead. Kabir slowly understood what had happened and also realized that he had killed the butterfly by trapping it.
His eyes filled with tears, he tried talking to the butterfly, he slowly blew air on his wings, tried every way to bring it back to life but in vain. It was lifeless. But the greed to show his painting to the school overpowered him so much that he left the butterfly there and rushed to school. Since he had spoken a lot about it, everyone gathered to see it. Kabir slowly unfolded his painting in front of the class expecting an overwhelming reaction from everyone. But there was pin drop silence in the class. Kabir could see confused faces. He couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.
"Where are the colors Kabir?" Murthy Sir asked Kabir in a deem voice. "What? I mean… err…" What are you saying?" Kabir asked, glancing at the painting. To his shock it was blank. There were only outlines seen. No colors. Kabir stood like a statue in shock, speechless. His classmates started squealing and then slowly laughter burst across the classroom much to Kabir’s shame. He couldn’t even run away as he had still not gathered himself to what had happened with him. The butterfly had betrayed me is what he thought. Kabir, who was too embarrassed to face anyone, ran out of school straight to his house but the guilt of the dead butterfly was hovering over him.
Thousand thoughts crossed his mind, he felt guilty and he thought about the flower. He couldn’t face him. He did not return to the woods for many days. He kept the painting covered.
Then one fine day he decided to meet the flower and tell him the truth. He held the butterfly carefully as strictly instructed by the flower and trailed off to the woods. "Yellow Daisy…" said Kabir in a murmur to the flower. The flower instantly recognized Kabir’s voice and before he could ask anything Kabir explained everything to the flower. There was a big silence, the flower did not react. He then spoke in an angry tone "Now I know why humans are humans and I thank God that though God has given me a very short life he didn’t make me a human being, because we flowers only bring happiness to others in this short life, unlike you humans who know only to hurt others. You don’t value what God has bestowed upon you. I also curse myself that I can talk like humans, I want God to take away this gift from Me." said the angry flower. "I trusted you Kabir. Trusted you with the poor butterfly’s life and you just proved that you are a human being. Shame on you and please leave."
Kabir walked off quietly as he knew he had wronged the flower and there was no way he could undo what had happened. Days passed and one day Kabir returned to the flower. But the flower looked pale. It wasn’t as vibrant as it used to be. Kabir slowly opened the painting that he had created. It was a huge painting of the butterfly he had trapped. The flower observed but didn’t react. "This is my best painting I have ever created but I’m feeling extremely guilty for harming the butterfly…So please punish Me." said a sad Kabir. "No" said the flower "You have already got the punishment." A puzzled Kabir looked at the flower. "Yes, do you know why there were no colors in your painting?" Kabir was distracted by something. It was the same butterfly which had died. He was shocked to see it and looked at the flower.
"Now you understand where the colors from your painting disappeared. Well I returned them back to the butterfly and thus it got its life back. Your painting of the butterfly shall always remain devoid of colors to remind you of what you had done and what not to do. Please go back and live a good life my friend I shall always remember our friendship" Kabir on hearing this rushed back home to find the butterfly but there was no sign of the dead butterfly. He understood what had happened and as a memory of the butterfly, kept the case with him carefully forever.
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