Mother’s Magic

Another of my father-daughter bedtime story!

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ONCE UPON A TIME, in a small village, near a beautiful flowing river, there lived Mrs. Quack Duck with her six sweet and lovely ducklings.

Every morning, the Sun rose in the East, and Mrs. Quack Duck would wake up. She would stretch her wings and flap them slowly. Then she cleaned the nest.

She, then, would say, “Good Morning, my dear beautiful children”!

The six ducklings would slowly open their dreamy eyes and say, “Oh, Mother. Can we sleep a little more, please? We are still very sleepy.”

Mrs. Quack Duck would smile and say, “No my dear beauties. Always remember, the early bird catches the worm.”

Hearing their mother say about the worm, all the ducklings feel very hungry and immediately open their eyes. They say in chorus, “Mother, we are awake. Let’s go and catch the worm.”

“No, not so soon”, says Mrs. Quack Duck. “You have to first clean yourself in the morning, before you eat. Come, follow me”.

Mrs. Quack Duck walks towards the river. The six ducklings follow their mother in a single line. They all love the river very much.

On reaching the river, Mrs. Quack Duck says, “Dear children. Today I will teach you some very important things, which you all have to follow strictly. Do not miss doing these activities everyday. If you do not follow any one of these, then the magic will not work.”

The ducklings were very happy that their mother was about to do some magic. They listened very carefully.

Before entering the water, Mrs. Quack Duck said, “As soon as you enter the river and start swimming, you should first clean your feet and the beak. You should flap your legs inside the water and clean them from all the dirt and mud from your feet. You should also dip your beak into the water and clean them too.”

The ducklings looked at their mother how to do the same. They then followed her cleaning their feet and their beaks.

“Now can we eat, dear mother.” “No, not yet”.

“Now, you all will clean your feathers and your wings. I will teach you how to do it.” Saying this, Mrs. Quack Duck put her head into the water and brought it out with a jerk. In this way she splashed water onto her back. She also flapped her wings into the water. After that she cleaned each feather of her wings and her back with her beak.

The ducklings saw their mother cleaning up very carefully looking and they did the same. They loved splashing the water onto themselves. They also splashed water onto each other also. They had a lot of fun cleaning themselves up.

The ducklings then caught some small fish and ate them. After swimming for some time, they went to the bank of the river and dug up some lovely worms and ate them, too.

“Do not eat anything that you see and get. They may be dangerous and poisonous too. Eat only fresh and correct food. I will tell you which are the healthy food”, said Mrs. Quack Duck.

After eating, Mrs. Quack Duck said, “Clean your beak after every meal that you have”.

They played and swam all day. They were enjoying this swim.

When the Sun was going down in the West, Mrs. Quack Duck called out to her children and said, “Come on, it is now time to go home”.

“Mother dear, let us play some more. We are enjoying the swim”, said the ducklings together.

“No. Remember, when the Sun goes down, it is going to be dark. That is when all children and all ducks come home. This is time for rest”, said Mrs. Quack Duck.

While returning home, the ducklings looked at each other and whispered, “What happened to Mother’s Magic. Did you see it?” They shook their heads and said, “No”.

They went to sleep that night, feeling very happy.

Mrs. Quack Duck and her ducklings followed the same routine every day. The ducklings never forgot what their mother had taught them. They were very obedient children.

One morning, the ducklings woke up and found that their mother was still sleeping. They looked at each other and were very puzzled, as to how they woke up before their mother.

“Dear Mother, are you not well today? Can we help?”, said the ducklings.

“No, my dear children. Today I want you to go to the river by yourselves. I will join you all later”, said Mrs. Quack Duck.

The ducklings obeyed their mother and walked to the river.

Before entering the river, the ducklings saw their reflection in the river. They were very astonished. They saw that they had become very beautiful ducks now.

“Mother’s Magic”, they said in chorus.

The six ducklings have grown to become very beautiful and graceful ducks now, because they listened and obeyed their mother and her instructions.

Garden of God!

The father-daughter relationship is the most satisfying, the most interesting and intriguing, that defies any definition. Our pact starts and ends with bedtime stories - the daughters always think that the father is a treasure trove of interesting stories. The story below is being put in my blog on the insistence of my daughter.

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Once upon a time, there were two great friends- Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Tortoise. They were inseparable and spent most of their time together.

One day, Mr. Tortoise called upon Mr. Rabbit and said, “Good morning, Mr. Rabbit. How are you today?”

“Not very fine, Mr. Tortoise. Not very fine”, said Mr. Rabbit.

“Why? What is the matter Mr. Rabbit? What is bothering you today? Can I be of any help to you?” said Mr. Tortoise.

“I do not know, Mr. Tortoise”, says Mr. Rabbit. “I have been thinking that, we have spent all our lives living here in this beautiful forest, but now I find that we are running short of food here. Carrots are becoming very scarce.”

“Yes, Mr. Rabbit. Even the juicy leaves and grass have become scarce”, said Mr. Tortoise.

They both sat down under the shade of a tree and started to think on what to do next.

Mr. Tortoise turned to Mr. Rabbit and said, “Why don’t we go and find a new place to live?”

“Great idea. Let’s go now”, said Mr. Rabbit.

Together, they start their journey to find a new place to live in, a place where there would be plenty of food for them. They keep trudging along and get deeper into the forest.

The trees have become bigger and are greener as they walk along. The flowers are of many bright and vibrant colours. The fruits on the trees are ripe and juicy. They feel happy that they are walking in the right direction.

Mr. Rabbit says, “I think we are approaching a very beautiful garden, Mr. Tortoise”.

Mr. Tortoise nods his head and says, “Yes, Mr. Rabbit. I hope they allow us to live here”.

“Why do you say so?” asks Mr. Rabbit. “This is a very beautiful place and I am sure we will be welcomed here.”

Mr. Tortoise said, “This is indeed a very beautiful garden. I am sure, this garden is being looked after by someone. We should seek his permission to live here.”

Both of them walk slowly looking amazed at the beautiful garden, when they hear a very sweet voice singing. They look around and find Ms. Koel atop a tree, singing a melodious tune.

“Good morning, Ms. Koel” said both Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Tortoise together.

Ms. Koel stopped her singing and looked down and said, “Good morning, Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Tortoise. What a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Yes, indeed, a very beautiful day. Could you please tell us, where are we?” said Mr. Tortoise.

Ms. Koel smiled and said, “You are in the Garden of God!” and she flew away.

Both, Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Tortoise were very surprised, and together said “Garden of God!”

“See, I told you. This garden surely belongs to someone who is maintaining it’s beauty” said Mr. Tortoise. “His name is God, I am sure.”

They walk a little further into the garden. The flowers are very beautiful and so are the hundreds and hundreds of varieties of plants and trees. They keep admiring at all the beautiful plants, trees and flowers, as they walk deeper into the garden.

Suddenly, a nut drops from the tree above in front of them. They stop in their tracks and look amazed. They look around and find Mr. Squirrel running down the trunk of the tree towards them.

“Hello, Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Tortoise. I am sorry that my nut caused you trouble. I hope that you are not hurt by it”, said Mr. Squirrel.

Surprised, both of them nod their heads together.

Mr. Squirrel comes near them and picks up the nut. He sees the surprised look on their faces and asks, “What happened? Why are you both surprised?”

“Could you please tell us where we can find Mr. God”, said Mr. Tortoise.

“I do not know where Mr. God is”, says Mr. Squirrel.

“How is it possible? You are staying here at the Garden of God, and you do not know God. This is really surprising. I am sure you know the owner of this garden – God. Please let us know where we can find him”, said Mr. Rabbit.

Mr. Squirrel ran up the trunk of the tree and said, “Yes, I am living here in the Garden of God. But, God is not the owner of this garden”.

Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Tortoise looked at each other. They were very surprised and intrigued. “If this is the Garden of God, then, how is it possible that God is not the owner of this beautiful garden? Said Mr. Tortoise.

“We should solve this mystery” said Mr. Rabbit.

They walk further into the garden and find Ms. Butterfly flying gracefully from one flower to another.

“Good morning, Ms. Butterfly. We are new to this garden. Would you please clear one of our doubts?” said Mr. Tortoise.

Ms. Butterfly slowly sits on a beautiful sunflower and smiles at them and says, “Yes, dear. What is your doubt? I will try to clear it if I know the answer.”

“This is the Garden of God. We wanted to meet the owner – God. We wanted to seek his permission to stay here”, said Mr. Rabbit.

“This is indeed the Garden of God. But, God is not the owner of this garden. You do not need to seek his permission to stay here” said Ms. Butterfly.

“That is our doubt. If this is the Garden of God, then how come God is not the owner” asked Mr. rabbit.

“It’s very simple, Mr. Rabbit”, said Ms. Butterfly.

“This is called the ‘Garden of God’, because, God created this garden. He put in all the good and beautiful things here in this garden. But he is not the owner of the garden. He has put us also in this garden and made all of us the owners of this garden.

We all, including you and Mr. Tortoise, are the owners of this Garden of God. It is up to us to maintain this Garden of God and enjoy it’s beauty for a long long time. We are the people who have the power to make this garden more beautiful, or to destroy it completely.

We are the owners of this Garden of God. Let us all live together and make this a very beautiful place to live in. You do not need permission to stay in your own home.”

Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Tortoise smiled and said, “Thank you, Ms. Butterfly. We are now at home and will make all efforts to make this Garden of God a very beautiful place to live in”.