The Crow's Petition

One spring morning in Srinagar, the governor sat in the darbar, the hall where people brought questions and requests.

Farmers spoke about water. Shopkeepers spoke about roads. Neighbours asked for help settling disagreements.

In the middle of it all, a crow flew through an open window.

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"

An attendant gently waved her outside.

A moment later, she returned.

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"

Again the attendants guided her out. Again she flew in. This time she perched above the governor's chair and called more urgently than before.

The governor raised his hand. The hall became quiet.

"This crow has come three times," he said. "Perhaps she, too, has a petition."

Some people smiled, but the governor called a young guard named Yusuf.

"Follow her," he said. "Watch carefully, and discover what troubles her."

The crow flew through the window. Yusuf hurried after her through lanes bright with morning light. Whenever he fell behind, she waited on a rooftop and called to him.

At last they reached a row of tall poplar trees. A woodcutter was preparing to cut a heavy branch. High on that very branch rested a nest with three tiny chicks.

The mother crow circled the tree.

"Caw! Caw!"

Now Yusuf understood her petition.

"Please stop for a moment," he told the woodcutter. "There is a nest on that branch."

The woodcutter lowered his tool. He had been looking only at the trunk and had not noticed the chicks.

Together they examined the tree. The branch was not dangerous, and several fallen limbs nearby would provide all the wood he needed.

Yusuf returned to the darbar and explained what he had seen.

The governor asked the woodcutter to come forward.

"Did the crow speak the truth?" he asked.

"She did," the woodcutter replied. "I nearly destroyed her home because I failed to look up. I will gather fallen wood until the chicks are old enough to fly."

The governor thanked him for listening and ordered that the poplar be left undisturbed.

For the rest of the spring, the crow raised her chicks safely. When the three young birds finally opened their wings and flew over the city, their mother circled the governor's hall once more.

This time she did not sound worried.

"Caw!" she called, as if to say, "My petition has been answered."