The sight of the bubbles formed when the rain drops strike the water pool is delightful and a treat to watch. It has always hypnotized me exceedingly. For others it may be just a sight but for me the sight is an emotion. I see daddy speaking to me in every bubble my eyes catch and telling me in the loudest of voices that the worldly life and its pleasures have bubble life. Rainfall and bubble formation reminds me of a very special story which my dady told me in my childhood on a rainy day. The story is not only meaningful and full of morals but also a wake up call for parents. Allow me to tell you the story. Once upon a time a boy ,who was orphaned prior to his birth, came back home with an egg in his hand and handed it to his mother who had just finished cooking dinner and was now rub cleaning the utensils off the black soot which had stuck to the utensils from incomplete burning of fire wood. “Where did u get this egg from.We don’t have a hen of our own?”asked mother. “,From the neighbour’s yard. Hen laid the egg there and by chance I happened to be there when the hen laid the egg,”replied the son who was looking more excited than happy. “Well done, my proud son. Do follow the hen tomorrow as well. Bring here as many eggs daily as you can but make sure no one sees you when you pick up the eggs,” mother told son in an appreciated tone. The boy followed the hen for next few days and the other hens as well. Starting from stealing eggs the boy soon began to try his hands on other things from his neighbourhood. Now he brings buckets, marble balls, steel plates, ear rings to his home and every time he brings anything and hands over to his mother ,the mother appreciates him and he is encouraged to steal more things. Years passed as he grew up and so does his area of activities. Now he was a full grown man and a certified thief,known far and wide for his thefts. People used to avoid his presence. Confident of his stealing trait one day he happened to breake into king’s house but there he got caught,tried and awarded capital punishment . Now he was about to face the gallows by hanging. The day of executing the death sentence arrived and the culprit was taken to the place of execution. A huge mob had gathered there . But as per the law of land just before hanging him he was asked about the last wish which the culprit would want to have fulfilled. “You are found guilty of breaking into his majesy’s house with an evil intension of theft as is evident from a finding a few priceless things from your possession. The stolen things found with your possession include her highness, queen’s, necklace , his highness, king’s diamond ring and royal dynasty’s pearls. Now therefore after trail you are sentenced to death by hanging you publicly today morning. We are here to execute the order. But before you are hanged I am ordered to ask and fulfill your last wish,” read the official incharge. “Well, I want to see my mother” wished the culprit after a lot of thought. Mother was brought and told to meet his son. Misty eyed she neared her son and hugged him. Within a friction of second a loud scream came out of her mouth. But the scream sounded more out of physical pain rather of overwhelming emotions. She screamed and screamed,unending. Hangman went near the mother-son duo to check why mom was screaming so loudly. To his awe and surprise he found that the son had bitten his mother’s ear,had injured it and blood was oozing out of it. The snow white teeth of son were drenced red in mom’s blood and blood drops were dripping from the bitten ear. The ear was still in son’s mouth.
The scene was frightful even to stone hearted hangman.He could not believe what his eyes were seeing. He raced to the duo and pulled the son back to release the mother of the excurating pain the bite was causing her. But the son wouldn’t leave the ear. Instead the pull would drag the mother by ear since the son refused to leave it out of the bite. The stronger the pull the more painful it was for the mother. The scene was frightful for the people who were present there. Their hearts , which were feeling sympathetic for the thief a few moments before, were now filled with hate. How could anyone be so cruel and insane they would mumble. Some of them raced to help the hangman to save the mother. They caught the thief by his neck and pulled him strongly. Someone punched the son in his cheek and the jaws got opened and ,thus, the mother was released but not before half of the ear was cut off by the bite.The cut piece fell in son’s mouth and he began chewing it like a chewing gum. Everyone was looking at the thief with anger and disgust, Some were abusing him while others were spitting in his face. The hangman asked him with bitterness in his voice,” how could a man do this to his mother and more so when the man is seeing her the last time. I am a hangman with heart hard as steel. Even my soul shook on seeing your misdeed ,you bloody swine.Why you did this to your own mother. Why so much of hate and anger?” “I am a thief and a departing guest in the world now.Soon I will bid you all a final good bye. I am meeting an untimely death at your hands.I loved my mother all through my life. So I wanted to leave my imprints on her so that she don’t forget me when I am dead” the thief replied. “But this is no good way to leave your imprints on your mother, you ate her ear and chewed it under teeth, you beast have a slightest idea about what you have just done?” Asked the hangman. “Well, It was never a good way in which she raised me up, either,” thief retreated quickly, “I can’t pay everyone back. But to my mother I could and this is only way I know how to pay her back.” People there were cursing and abusing him badly. Mother was weeping hard and blood was flowing down her side cheek. People were calling him devil and demon. They had seen an animal in human form. People took mother away from the scene. The thief kept watching his mother being taken away as he tried to figure out who his real murderer was. Was it the hangman, the king, or his own mother was the question he was asking himself? “Had she slapped me the vary day I stole an egg from the neighboing yard, I wouldn’t have become a thief. Neither I would be a thief not would have I been tried and hanged. My own mother is my murderer,” he screamed his lungs out on the back of his mother as she vanished from the scene. The he stepped back, rode on the tool . The noose of the hanging rope was placed around his neck. The under feet stool was removed and he was hanged to death.
(The author is teacher by profession. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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