Time Lake

Time never forgets those who forget it. Time is the second name of the nemesis. The story told here is the story of nemesis. The sages would understand who the birds are?

This is a story of the days when she-peacocks were able to dance.

There was a beautiful lake named the Time Lake. It was not less than an earthly paradise. There were beautiful shrubs and bushes around it. The velvety grass and the hundreds and thousands of the species of flowers adorn the facade of the lake.

There was always a sweet fragrance and sweet voices of the charming songs of the love birds. The Birds and the beautiful and innocent animals were the lucky inhabitants of the surroundings. Songs of the birds and sweet smell of the flowers were more enchanting than the sweetest opera. There were swans, wild ducks, seagulls, humming birds and a host of other beautiful birds diving and flying in the air. The others were seen swimming on the blue waters of lake.

In such a praiseworthy atmosphere there was a pair of peacocks living on the bank of the lake. It was also a pair of its own kind. The pair was so famous and favorite that it was given the epithet of love and life. The hen peacock was called the Life and the peacock was named the Love. Its life was jubilant and peaceful. Its popularity gave rise to jealousy. The traditional romantic birds, swans, were jealous of its love and fame. They thought that they were going in the background and the Love and the Life were gaining popularity because they were of the view that they should be recognized as the only loving birds in the lake of Time.

The jealousy aroused in them the feelings of hatred and revenge. They thought of a plan to separate the peacocks from each other.

One day when the Love was not there, the Swans got the opportunity to act upon their conspiracy.

They went to Life (the hen-peacock,) and said;

Swan: Hi Life! How are you? We heard about your beauty and love and were eager to see you.

Life: O, thanks, come on in.

The Swans eulogized her in such a way that she was conceited. That was the first stroke on the snobbish nature of Life. The Swans seemed successful in their planning.

The next day they again benefited from the opportunity of loneliness of Life and went to her to adulate her.

“They praised her beauty in the most attractive manner and said:

We are sure that you are the only loving pair on the earth, and we want you to be prettiest of all the birds. We know a method of becoming the most beautiful and charming. Even your offspring could be prettier than you. If you liked, we would tell you”. They hurriedly slipped away on seeing that the Love was coming.

The Hen-peacock (Life) was very importune to know about the ways of becoming more enchanting. She could not attend Love well and did not dance with him that evening.

The Love was awestruck on the disinterestedness of the life. He thought that she never had behaved in that clumsy manner before. She had always danced with him in the evening.

He asked the cause of her sadness but life did not reply and went away. The Love was very disturbed over her cruel treatment.

Next day when the Swans saw that the Love was not at home, they came again to the Life. She was waiting for them too. As soon as they reached, she asked about the methods of becoming more attractive and beautiful.

Firstly the Swans overtly hesitated to tell her the methods of becoming more attractive and beautiful but then according to their plan they divulged every thing. They told her that there was a valley of golden snakes on the South Pole. These snakes were difficult to catch but whoever ate them became the most beautiful being in this world.

The Life was much excited over that and thanked the swans very much.

The Swans were now sure that Life would definitely send the LOVE to bring the golden snakes and he would be killed in the way by the troubles and difficulties.

When the Love came the Life was looking very upset. He asked her the reason of her annoyance. She told him that she wanted the golden snake.

The Love felt that there was something wrong in the bottom. He asked her to whom she had met that day?

The Life told him that she had not met any body except the swans.

The love tried his best to make her understand the conspiracy but she did not budge an inch from his position. She insisted on her demand and remained adamant. The Love tried once again to understand the hidden feelings of the swans but all in vain.

In return the Life started dancing. That was her last weapon. She had successfully used that weapon whenever the Love declined to yield. She danced and danced for quite a long time. The love continued watching her dance for some time without feeling any kind of sympathy but could not hold back his emotions for long. He bowed before the life’s demand and promised to fetch her golden snake. The life smiled and danced more beautifully, this time Love was also dancing with her.

The next morning the Love took off for the south poles. The life was sad but hopeful that she would become the prettiest bird after his return.

The Love was traveling at a great speed towards the South Pole. He covered the distances with quite ease as no untoward incident has happened in the beginning. One day as He was flying and remembering the Life when a strange looking creature struck with him. He fell on the ground with the creature that had struck with him. He was awestruck on seeing a dreadful dragon before him. The dragon clutched him in his claws and went towards his den. There was many a dragon in the den. Firstly they played with him as cats play with mouse. When they were tired they stopped and sat .They laid their heads together to decide about the fate of the Love. They were about to eat him when he requested them to listen a few words from him.

He told them that his feathers were quite tasteless in eating. Moreover there was not enough meat in his body. There were layers of feathers and wings and those too were like thorns. They did pay any heed to his request and started preparation to eat him. When the Love felt that there was no way to escape, he started dancing. The dragons watched him with wonder. They were enchanted by the devotional dance of the Life and decided to keep him with them forever.

Behind him at the lake of time the situation had changed. The love could not fight against the conspiracies of the swans who had invited a peacock to make friends with the LIFE.

Firstly she did not respond but at the end the peacock proved successful. He had succeeded in his attempts to win the heart of the Life.

Many days passed but the Love did not get a chance to escape. One day he determined to flee. He started dancing. He danced as beautiful that all the dragons were duped to his dance. One of them asked him the reason of his flight towards the South Pole. He told him the whole story of his Life and golden snakes.

The dragon told him that there were no golden snakes on the South Pole. It was a snare to put you in the valley of death. He told him that he had left the valley of snakes far behind. He told him the way to the valley and to catch the golden snakes. He also helped him in his escape on the condition that he would again come there after meeting his Love. He promised and left the dragons lying there. He got the golden snakes and reached the lake of the time.

The time has changed its shape. The thorns had replaced the velvety grass, and the flowers had withered. There were swans but were starving due to barrenness of the time. The chirping birds had migrated to other lakes. He searched for the Life and entered the thorny bushes. He was shocked to see the Life with the peacock. He put the golden snake in the feet of the Life and returned with the heavy heart. He did not want to live. He ran towards the dense forest.

The life was very ashamed on the situation, but she wanted to eat the snake first. She stepped forward towards the golden snake. She was to bite the snake when the peacock at once plunged on the snake. She was fast enough and caught the snake. The peacock chased her but could not catch her. She disappeared in the forest.

The peacock castigated the life and went aside. The Life was perturbed with loss of Love but could not do anything. She was searching the Love. She dragged herself and the snake through out the forest. After a lot of struggle, she saw a shadow of the Love. She ran towards that but her search was futile because the Love had died. His dead body was standing by the side of a tree in such a way as he was alive.

The Love thought that he was angry with her. She started dancing but her feet did not support her, even her wings did not open. She became more remorseful on her loss of dance. She wanted to weep bitterly over the death of the love but could not. Her eyes had dried. She had been deprived of the dance for ever due to her infidelity. She had nothing except regrets with her.

Once you are in the bad books of your friends, the revival of your image is very difficult and demands a great sacrifice.