Once, there lived a snake in a dark cave on a high mountain by the sea. The waves of the sea took a very strong stormy form and kept on colliding with the shining mountain rocks in the sun.
A river flew in the dark valleys between the mountains, rushing towards the sea with great noise. Where the sea and the river meet, the strong current forms a white milky foam. The snake sitting in its cave often saw the sight and the loud sound of the river flowing in front of him.
The snake was thrilled because, he thought, despite the thunder of the waves, he was happy and safe. He was not afraid, as no one could hurt him, and because he was the master of his cave, no one could get him out of there.
One day, a hawk flying in the sky suddenly fell in front of the cave. There were many wounds on his chest. The snake could see his feathers covered with blood, and he was crying with pain. The hawk screamed painfully and started rolling on the ground, flapping his wings. Out of fear, the snake shrank into its corner. But the very next moment, he realized the hawk was breathing his last and there was no reason to be afraid of him. He thought of this and reached out, crawling toward the injured bird.
“What happened to you, Brother Hawk?”
“My life has been very good, brother. But when the enemy attacked, I had to save my land. I fought hard but got injured. As long as there is strength in my body, I have flown far and wide. I have measured the infinite heights of the sky with my wings." Now the hawk was narrating his story. He tells the snake to fly high in the open sky.
Snake said, “It is your great misfortune that you will never be able to enjoy flying in the sky for the rest of your life.”
The hawk thought, “O sky, will I ever be able to touch you?
The hawk told the snake, “God has not given you that power. You will never feel the joy of flying in the sky.“
On hearing these words from the hawk, the snake said, “What’s in the sky, after all? Can I crawl into your sky? Your sky is all yours, brother. This cave is better for me. Where else would be such a comfortable and safe place for a snake, and the sky be for the birds? “
The snake thought the eagle was a foolish bird, and he laughed his heart out at his words. He had been injured while flying in the sky, yet he was talking about flying. The snake did not seem to make much difference in crawling and flying. God has given the snake the power to crawl and the birds to fly. The snake thought that at the end of life, everyone had to die.
When the snake said that its cave was better and safer than the hawk’s sky, the hawk raised its head a little and started looking carefully around the snake’s cave. The hawk saw that water was dripping from the cracks of the cave. There was a terrible darkness. There was a very foul smell coming from there because no sunlight ever reached there.
A loud, sad cry came from the hawk’s mouth, “Ah! I wish I could fly in the sky, even for once.”
The snake listened to the hawk and told him, “If you love freedom so much, why don’t you try to fly above the edge of this rock? Maybe your wings still have enough strength to fly in the sky.”
Hearing the words of the snake, a new hope arose in the hawk’s heart. He also thought that there was no harm in trying. The hawks dragged his wounded body to the edge of the cliff with all his courage. When the hawk looked at the open sky, the same old gleam returned to his eyes. He took a deep breath with confidence, spread his wings, and jumped into the air without delay.
The hawk took off with great courage, but its wounded, broken wings were no longer strong enough to bear the full weight of its body. His body rolled like a stone and fell into the river. A wave of the river washed away the frozen blood on his wings. The hawk could not fly because of its injured wings.
White foam covered his weary body, then the river carried the hawk in its lap and carried it with it to the ocean. The waves started hitting the rocks. It was as if the waves were shedding tears at the death of the hawk. Gradually, in the never-ending expanse of the ocean, the hawk disappeared from sight.
After the death of the hawk, the snake sitting on the rock kept thinking about the death of the hawk and his love for the flight of the sky. What was the attachment hidden in the immense power of the sky, for which the hawk gave his life?
“I must taste the sky at least once, and so I will know what joy the hawk was talking about.”
The snake shrugged its body and crawled forward, leaving itself in the sky's emptiness. For a moment in the sun, the snake’s body shone like lightning.
But how could someone who had spent his entire life crawling be able to fly? The snake fell on the small rocks below. The snake laughed and said, “So this is the joy of flying! It was at God’s mercy that the poor snake survived; otherwise, like that hawk, he too would have faced death today.
The snake was thinking, “Then how do those birds brag so much? Why do they regard the earth’s creatures as so insignificant? They will never deceive me again. I looked up at the sky and saw a lot. The hawk did not tire of singing the praises of the sky. I jumped into the sky, following his words. God bless him. Now my point has become even more confirmed that there is no greater happiness than one’s own place. I crawl on the earth. That means a lot to me."
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When the snake heard that mysterious song from below the rocks, he could not believe his ears. Because he lived alone at that place, so who was singing this song? But after a while, the voices in the song came through clearly. He came out of his cave to see, and he looked down from the rock to see the blue water of the sea was shining in the golden rays of the sun.
The snake heard the waves of the ocean that were soaking the rocks, and they were bursting with the sounds of the song that he heard. The song of the waves was echoing far and wide in every direction.
“Oh, fearless hawk!” The snake was listening to the song of the waves. “Now the time is not far away when every drop of the blood of that brave hawk will remove the darkness from the lives of the people, spread the light, and instill in the courageous, brave hearts a love for freedom and light.” It was as if the waves were thanking the hawk for his sacrifice.