The Gift of Giving

Jackie jackal was startled to see some rabbits sitting inside a lattice fence. Naturally, his mouth watered, but he couldn't do anything because the rabbits were inside the net

- Inderjeet Kaushik

Whatever happens, I mustn't lose heart! he thought as he walked towards them. The rabbits became alert because they were aware of Jackie's intentions.

"Why are you hiding there? If you want to kill me, then I'm ready!" said Jackie, standing outside the lattice.

"We're not here to kill anyone. We're here to prepare a gift for our king, Sheru," replied one of the rabbits.

"Is it the king's birthday today?"

"Oh, no. We're celebrating a festival-I mean we're preparing for one," and the rabbits continued working.

They were stuffing sweets and chocolates inside eggshells. Then they painted the shells in dark colours. Jackie was surprised as he had not seen such gifts before.

He ran to his friend, Woofy wolf, and told him.

"Yes, yes, I know about that! But no one's celebrated it in our forest until now. Many games with eggs are played during this festival," Woofy said.

"What's wrong with you? What's the use of this festival for us? We just need to find a way to get what we want! How can we benefit from it?" Jackie exclaimed furiously after listening to Woofy.

"Oh, yes! You're right! Let's think of something!" said Woofy. "We could find an egg bigger than all those eggs and then fill it with a lot of chilli powder instead of sweets and chocolates."