As told By Haniba( 30) years
Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Bangladesh
***
There was once a wealthy family in a village. The mother and father had an infant child. They also had a beloved pet porcupine who lived in their home.
The husband and wife enjoyed hunting in the forest. One summer day, the husband and wife decided to go hunting, but they had a problem – they couldn’t take their baby with them. So they put the baby in a basin of water and asked the porcupine to look after the baby while they were gone.
Not long after the husband and wife left for the forest, there was snake couple slithering nearby. They were both very thirsty for water because it was summer and they couldn’t find water anywhere to drink. After a while they became desperate to find a source to drink. They decided to spread out in search of water – one went to the left side and the other went to the right side.
After searching on the right side, the Mrs. Snake saw the basin filled with water where the baby was playing. She slid over to the basin and began drinking happily. While she was drinking water, the baby slapped her once but she didn’t respond and continued to drink deeply.
When she got back home after drinking water, Mr. Snake asked her where she found water. Although she really wanted to tell her husband where she found the water, Mrs. Snake was afraid that the baby would also slap her husband, and that her husband would bite the baby in return.
After much debate, the Mr. Snake finally agreed that he would not bite the baby, and so the wife told him where to find the basin.
The husband rushed to find the basin, and when he found it, he began drinking deeply. Almost immediately, the baby slapped him on the head. Without thinking, the snake bit the baby. Because the snake was venomous, the baby fell over and became very sick. Although he felt bad for biting the baby, Mr. Snake was so thirsty and he kept drinking.
A short time later, the porcupine saw that the baby had fallen over and noticed Mr. Snake drinking from the basin. The porcupine attacked the snake, but Mr. Snake was able to escape and run back to his wife.
The porcupine set out to search for an antidote for the snake’s venom. Soon after, the baby’s parents came back from hunting, and they saw their baby had died.
However, they misunderstood the situation and thought that the porcupine had killed the baby and run away. At that time, they became so angry. When the porcupine got back home, the father of baby hit it with an iron rod and immediately killed their beloved porcupine.
The parents were so sad and they began crying and crying. Suddenly, the wife baby’s mother saw a bunch of special grass held in the porcupine’s mouth. She thought perhaps it was something for her baby, brought by the porcupine. She took the grass from its mouth and put it inside the baby’s mouth. A few minutes later, the baby started to crying, and got well again.
The parents realized their terrible mistake in killing such a kind and loyal animal as their pet porcupine.
Notes: Everyone should think before doing anything. Without knowing the details , no one should misunderstand on anyone.