77. Aesop's Fables - The Lark and Her Young Ones

Once there lived a beautiful female lark.

One day the female lark met a charming male lark. They fell in love and married each other in the early spring. The larks are terrestrial birds, which make their nest in the ground. So they made a nest in the hiding of green wheat pod field.

In the middle spring, the female lark hatched eggs. The parent larks incubated the eggs, which soon hatched. They larks fed their young ones and nestled them warmly.

Days passed by and the nestling grew up. They learned the use of wings to fly and were prepared to began their journey independently soon. The field crop was also ready for harvest. Seeing the crop ready for harvest, the caretaker of the fields said to his son, 'We should ask our family to come to the field, so that we can harvest the crop collectively'.

One of the young birds, heard the caretaker talking to his son about the harvest. It was very worried and ran to its mother. It narrated the impending peril on their family and said, 'Mother! The humans will soon come to harvest the crop. They will destroy our nest and could even harm us. We should find a new place to live'.

The mother lark said, 'Son! It is not time to move.The man you heard is a friend of field owner. He is the caretaker and is not earnest in his deeds. He will not come timely to reap the harvest'.

After few days, the mother lark saw the owner of the field come. The owner was worried to see the overripe crop standing. The grain was shedding on the ground as it was harvested timely. The owner said to himself, 'The crop will go waste if the harvest is further delayed. I will get labour and reapers to harvest the crop tomorrow itself'.

The mother lark heard the owner. She went to her nestlings and said, 'My dear little ones, it is now time for all of us to find a new place to live. The owner of the field has come. He is troubled to see the crop going waste due to lack of timely harvesting. He is earnest with his words and he will set labourer tomorrow for the harvesting the overripe crop. He will do his work himself rather than trusting it in hands of his acquaintances'.

Moral: Self-help is the best help.