FEAST FOR THE MICE
Story By - Rabindranath Tagore (
1861- 1941 Copy right free)
CHILDREN'S ENGLISH STORY
The vacation was over and a group
of boys was on the train, chugging back to school. they were in an angry mood.
“It’s an outrage!” they said with one voice. “We shan’t study under a new
teacher!” They were to get a new Sanskrit teacher, Kalikumar Tarkalankar by
name. As a protest, someone in the group had already changed the teacher’s name
to Kalo Kalo Kumaro Tatka Lanka ( black pumpkin and read-hot chilli) and made
up a rhyme called “sacrifice of the Black Pumpkin” which they were singing at
the top of their lungs.
At Arkhola and elderly gentle boarded the train. With him came his bedroll, a few
odd bundles, one big trunk and two or three large earthen pots, their mouths securely tied with cloth. Immediately a tough looking boy , nicknamed
Bichkun, began to yell and call him names .”Get down, you old foll! There is
room here. Go to another carriage.
The old man replied calmly, “ The
compartment is full. I don’t get any seat. So don’t worry i will sit in a
corner and won’t trouble you at all. With that, he unrolled his bedding on the floor and settled down on it. A little later he turned to them
and asked , “Where are you all going, my boys,and for what purpose?” “ To fix
somebody for ever.” Said Bichkun. “And
who is that person?” asked the old man. “Kaalu Koomaro Tadatadi Lanka,” came the reply.
At Asansol, the train stopped for
a while and the old man got down to have wash. When he came back, Bichkun shouted , “Get off this coach, mister,
or you will be sorry!” “Why, what’s wrong?” “There are rats crawling all over the
place.” “Mice? Really oh, no! “you can
see for yourself; your pots are all empty!” “ The
old man saw that the laddos on one pot were gone. So were the sweets in another. Bichkun
pointed out , “that bundle of yours, too.
The rats have run off with its contents!”
The bundle had contained five ripe mangoes from the old man’s garden. But he was not upset. “Poor Creatures,” he said with smile. “They must have been starving!” “Not a bit of It” returned the boy “Now if there were anything more in your luggage they would have eaten that too, for sure!”
The boys laughed but the old man looked really sorry. ” Oh, I should have brought more to eat for them if I would have known about these mice.” The boys were surprised, even a little disappointed, to see that the old man was not angry. It would have been fun to watch him lose his temper. They pulled into Bardhman, where they had to wait for an hour and board another train. The gentle man said, “This time I can find a seat in another coach so don’t worry.”
But the boys would not hear of
it. “No, no!” they shouted. “you must come with us. If there is anything more
left in your bundle, we will guard it on the way. You won’t lose anything, we
promise!” “Oh, all right,” replied the gentleman. “Go ahead and board
the train, all of you. I will join you in a minute.
The boys filed into the new
train. A little later sweetmeat seller came to their window pushing his cart,
with the gentleman beside him. He handed each of them a paper bag full of sweets,
saying, “This time the mice won’t go hungry.” The boys cheered loudly.
Next , a Mango seller came with a full basket and the boys enjoyed a feast of mangoes. Now they asked “ now we are friend like so you can tell us, where are you going and why? “ I left my village in search of a job. Now I will move wherever I find job.
“And what kind of work can you do?” they asked “I am a school teacher,” he said. “I teach Sanskrit.” The boys bursts out clapping. “ A school teacher? Teaching Sanskrit? Then you must come to teach in our school.” “They won’t have me. Why should they?” “We will see that they do!” the boys assured him.
“We shan’t allow Kaalu Kumaro Tadatadi Lanka to show his face anywhere in the neighbourhood. just you wait and see.” “Suppose your secretary doesn’t like me?” “He had better like you. Or we will all leave the school in protest. “Very well Then, my boys, take me to your school.” They had reached their destination . And whom did they see? The secretary of the school committee, waiting right there, on the platform . As the old man alighted from the train, the secretary came forward to meet him. “Welcome, to Master Tarkalankar, sir,” he said. “ Hope your journey was pleasant. He touches his feet and says “Please come with me sir.”
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