Summar The Brave Little Parrot
Literal Comprehension
Once upon a time, Lord Buddha was born as a parrot in the forest. Abruptly, the forest caught fire. All the animals started running away to save their life. The parrot also flew towards the safe place but as he was flying over the forest, he saw his fellow animals (trapped in the fiery forest. So, he decided to do something to save them. As such, he flew to the river, dipped into it, flew back over the forest and sprinkled the drops of water over the forest from its body and feathers. He repeated this activity time and again. In the meantime, the gods above were watching the foolish act of the parrot and laughed at him.
One of the gods felt pity for him and disguised himself into a golden eagle, came to the parrot and told him to stop this activity and save his life. But, the parrot didn't take heed of his absurd advice and rather expected his help in his mission. Being impressed by the parrot, he shed the flow of tears over the forest which could extinguish the fire and thus he gave new life- to the parrot and all other animals of the forest. This is a tale taken from the Buddhist legend. This story recounts how a small parrot saved the lives of animals and birds in the forest by his courageous attempt.
Once, the Buddha was born as a parrot, which lived in a forest. One day a storm fell upon his forest home and soon the whole forest was on fire. The little parrot, which was flying towards the safety, saw that many animals were trapped with no chance of escape. He wanted to save the life of the animals. He so flew to the river, dipped himself into the water, and flew back over the raging fire. Then he released some drop of water over the burning forest shaking his wings. But they disappeared before reaching the ground.
He got tired and his whole body was hurt, but he did not stop his work. At that time some of the gods happen to look down. They laughed at the foolish attempt of the bird. But, one of the gods changed himself into a golden eagle came to the parrot and asked him to stop, such a hopeless task. But the parrot replied that he needed someone to help rather than advice. Moved by the parrot's statements, the eagle wants to help him. He began to weep and streams of tears fell off his eyes. They were like cold rain upends the fire.
The flames died down and the smoke began to clear. A new life come to the ground; the grasses, trees, and the animals got a new life. The parrot also got new life feathers of different colours. The animals looked at the parrot flying happily with new life. They were surprised at the wonderful happening.
Interpretation
The story is quite impressive in terms of giving a moral lesson to the readers. Its main gist is: 'Courage and patience are the best means to solve any kind of problem'. If the parrot hadn't been so courageous, if he hadn't been so determined and dedicated to his moral duty, he wouldn't have been able to put out the fire. Similarly, the story teaches us that service to the fellow in need is the actual service to the God.' If the parrot hadn't helped his friends, all of them would have died. Later, god was quite happy and gave him a new and brighter life.
Critical Thinking
The story from the religious point of view is well appreciated. It gives a moral lesson that is globally acceptable. But, in the modern world, people have been so busy and selfish that it is almost impossible to get a man like a parrot helping others selflessly. Courage and patience are not always rewarded and valued on this earth. God's influence is beautifully slated in the story but we have utmost doubt over god's existence in this modern world.
Some evenly are somewhat incredible because extinguishing the fire by means of the eagle's tears is almost unbelievable. The presentation of god as the spectator to its creature's agony is exactly a paradox to the meaning of god's existence. In fact, gods are saviours; they are not supposed to be indifferent to human suffering.
Assimilation
As I read this story, it reminded me of one incident that had once taken place in my village. When I was in my village, a hut caught fire. Many people gathered there and they heard a small baby crying inside the burning hut. But nobody was ready to help him. Ultimately, I ventured lo gel in lo the hut and saved the fife of the baby. This story has encouraged and inspired me to get involved in selfless service.