Singathology

by Gwee Li Sui

  After a short distance, there was a jaumoon plum tree with ripe and unripe fruits.

  The attention of all the parrots fell on the old parrot the moment they saw the tree. They observed the old parrot as they flew. The young parrots knew what the old parrot would usually say upon seeing that tree. But, on that day, the old parrot did not say anything at all.

  All the young parrots were surprised.

  “Whenever you see this tree, you would say, ‘This tree was planted by the Big Crane! The young jaumoon plum shoot it planted has now grown and is giving us fruits!’ You would also somersault in mid-air gleefully! Why are you flying with your mouth tightly shut today?” asked one parrot.

  Another parrot asked, “You would forget yourself whenever you see this tree! You would compliment it, saying that it was a tree planted by the Big Crane. Why are you not opening your mouth today?”

  But, the old parrot did not heed to what was said. Instead, it flew away carrying its own sorrow with it.

  All the young parrots flew nearer the tree. A variety of coloured birds were already there and surrounding the tree. They sang and flew around in merriment and ate the fruits happily. The young parrots sat on the branches watching the activities.

  Their mouths watered when they went close to the dew-covered fruits. They admired the fruits and flew round and round, pecked the fruits, and ate them. But, the old parrot did not join the young parrots in eating the fruits.

  It backtracked slowly. Once it was a good distance away, it glanced to see whether the other parrots were observing it. But, it did not appear as if the other parrots took notice of it. They were focused on filling their hungry stomachs.

  It dawned on the old parrot that this was the right time. It had hoodwinked the young parrots and went to sit alone on the lowest branch of the same tree. The cool wind blew gently. The fine feathers on its crown swayed in rhythm with the wind. But the old parrot neither danced nor budged.

  It was thinking about what the big black crow had revealed. There was a tightness in its chest. It moved its head from right to left involuntarily. Its beaks trembled nervously. It could not control its tears. The tears rolled down and wet a jaumoon plum seed which was on the ground.

  The young parrots did not see it crying. They were focused on tasting the jaumoon plums.

  But one young parrot on the highest point of the tree saw it accidentally. “That looks like our old parrot,” and it observed closely, pushing aside the leaves and foliage by its beak. Once it was confident that it was indeed the old parrot, it was unable to contain itself.

  It had no heart to pluck and eat the fruits. Its mind was disturbed by questions such as “What has happened to the old parrot” and “Why is it sitting here alone?” It left its place and went to sit next to the old parrot.

  The old parrot did not even realise that the young parrot had flown and sat closely brushing against it. The old parrot sat stoically like an upright stone.

  “Why have you withdrawn yourself to shed tears here?”

  “Nothing.”

  “If there is nothing, why are your eyes tearing?”

  “Dust fell into my eyes.”

  “It does not appear to be so…”

  The old parrot felt irritated.

  “I have already said nothing, all right? Why are you annoying me by asking why and what?” it asked.

  The young parrot did not expect the old parrot to throw tantrums. Even so, it understood the old parrot’s state of mind and said, “If there is nothing, then follow me!”

  “Why?”

  “To bite and eat the ripened jaumoon plum, that’s why!” it replied.

  The old parrot turned its face away and said, “I’m not hungry, I do not want fruits.”

  “You shouldn’t starve yourself at this old age. It is not good for the body. You are already all skin and bones! You shouldn’t starve any further. If you continue like this, you who fly in the wind will fly away like the wind,” said the young parrot.

  “I desire to blend with the wind! I do not wish to be alive anymore!”

  “Why are you saying such things?”

  “What else do you want me to say? Here, do you want me to close my eyes permanently inside that nest hole just like what this parrot said a while ago, or are you asking me to commit suicide by dipping my head into the mouth of the torrent spring? What do you want me to do? Tell me!”

  Uttering this, the old parrot staggered at the same time. Its claws loosened their grip of the bark. Its legs slipped as fragments of the bark fell. It was not able to stand with its feet firmly on the ground. Its body shuddered. The young parrot was alarmed with what it witnessed. It immediately hugged the old parrot with its right wing.

  “This is why you should not starve. Now you see, you cannot even stand with your feet firmly on the ground! Your body is shivering!” said the young parrot as it looked up.

  It looked at the young parrots that were flying about and pecking the fruits.

  “Greedy parrots! You only fill your own tummies! Did you all even bother to check whether our old parrot has eaten any fruit or whatever there is? You have forgotten about it! It is now here. It can’t even stand up. It is staggering! Its body is trembling! Can you fly over here immediately?” it screamed aloud.

  The young parrots who were feasting happily panicked. “Something has happened to our old parrot it seems. Come, come, let’s go and see!” they screamed and came flying hurriedly. When they came nearer, they saw the weary old parrot.

  One parrot pressed down its wings and flew to sit on the left side of the old parrot. It tried to feed the old parrot by placing the crumb of fruit it was grasping into the mouth of the old parrot. But the old parrot did not open its mouth.

  It refused to open its beak which were closed. Even though there was fruit and it was hungry, the old parrot did not have the heart to eat. However, the young parrot who was embracing the old parrot tightly did not idle away. It pushed the tip of its beak into the old parrot’s beak and pried it open. It also said, “Open!”

  The old parrot’s beak opened. A parrot who was expecting it to open its mouth quickly bit into the fruit it was grasping in its mouth and squeezed the juice.

  Since it squeezed the fruit from the upper branch of the tree, the juice flowed down right into the old parrot’s mouth. The old parrot did not spit that juice out. The juice fell drop by drop into the old parrot’s mouth and wet its throat. The stomach felt cool like the breeze in an orchard.

  A young parrot who was keenly observing what was going on said “Phew! It has drunk the fruit juice! No worries now!” and slowly clasped and tugged the tip of the wing of the parrot seated next to it. It batted its eyes as if to say “Come.” That parrot could not comprehend anything.

  “Why?” it asked softly.

  “Come, I will tell you!”

  Both the parrots went a little further and settled on a branch.

  “Now we have saved our old parrot! But can we always save it like this?” It asked.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “You know, if we let our guard down for a while, it will fly away from us! And it will never return!”

  “No! It shouldn’t be separated from us at all! It should live with us for a long time!”

  “In that case, we have to find out what the crow said to it.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “There is only one way for that. We have to go and meet the kingfisher bird and the weaver bird, both belonging to the old parrot’s generation. We have to meet and find out what the big black crow said to the old parrot.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “The crow must have told the birds what it has told our old parrot! That is because all of them belong to the same generation. Therefore, it must have certainly done so!”

  “If it had told them, the birds are bound to worry about the same thing. If that is the case, how will they tell us?’

  “Even if the birds are upset, we must get
the information from their mouths. If we probe, at least one bird may forget its sorrow and confide in us,” it said, laughing and pulling its neck back closer to its shoulders.

  “Will they forget their worries and tell us?”

  “They will. I am confident.”

  “In that case, let’s go!”

  Both parrots flew in the direction of where the birds of the old parrot’s generation were. The other young parrots did not observe these two parrots flying away.

  The old parrot regained consciousness. It struggled to dislodge itself from the young parrot’s grip.

  Once the young parrot realised it, and, as its grip loosened, the old parrot stretched its wings and yawned.

  At that moment, there was a sound of the fluttering of wings. All the parrots looked at the direction of the sound. One young parrot came flying wobblingly. It tried to sit on a branch opposite the old parrot.

  The parrot was not able to balance its body and sit on that branch. It slumped itself on the branch with its open wings. It was not hurt or bruised as the leaves and sprigs on that branch cushioned it. But that cage parrot was gasping for breath.

  All the parrots there were shocked when that parrot landed there unexpectedly.

  “We haven’t seen this parrot before. We don’t know where it came from!”

  “Did you see the wings of this parrot?” They look like they have been ravished by termites!”

  “Is that important now?” “First carry this parrot and make it sit. Give it first aid.”

  All the parrots stopped their banter and started to offer a helping hand. One young parrot held the wings of the parrot and helped it to sit on the branch properly. Another parrot combed down the twisted feathers and stroked gently.

  Within a short span of time, there was a pile of fruits, seeds, and grains for it to eat.

  The cage parrot could not believe what it saw. It was amazed and thought, “Oh! These young parrots are helping a stranger like me to such an extent! They are simply piling up the seeds!”

  At the same time, it also looked at the old parrot perched opposite. It looked at it closely. When it saw the old parrot looking glum, it tilted its head to one side and looked at the old parrot. The old parrot did not seem to acknowledge any of this. It stood still.

  It saw the state the old parrot was in and asked, “Why are you so glum?”

  The old parrot did not talk. It blinked its eyes and continued to look at the cage parrot.

  The parrot beside the old parrot said, ‘It is not in a position to talk now.”

  “Not in a position to talk? Why? Is there anything wrong with its mouth?”

  “Goodness! Nothing of that sort! It has just recovered from hunger pangs.”

  “It had hunger pangs? And just came out of it? Why was it hungry? You have everything here. Why didn’t it eat whatever it wanted?”

  “Everything is available. But it does not even want to touch anything.”

  “Why?”

  “We do not know about that.”

  “You do not know?”

  “Yes, we too do not know.”

  The newly arrived parrot was amazed and, in its enthusiasm to know more, looked at the old parrot’s face and asked, “Why did you starve?”

  The old parrot tilted its head to one side, gave a sly smile, and, like a slap on the face, asked, “Why are you asking me about that?”

  The cage parrot did not expect this. It felt a pang of regret for asking the question. It also said, “Forgive me!”

  “Never mind about forgiving, why did you come here? What is your reason for coming? What is your name?”

  “My name is Cage Bird. This is how the lunatic who imprisoned me in the cage called me. I did not plan to come here. I flew blindly and landed here,” it said.

  When it said that it was a cage parrot, old parrot’s heart softened. It lowered its voice and asked, “Where did you come from?”

  “One lunatic caught and caged me. I came out from that cage.”

  “Why did the lunatic cage you? Did you plunder anything on his garden or any other of his property?”

  “It is nothing of that sort. I am not a parrot of that nature! It is a lunatic who is a bird-keeping fanatic! That is why it caught and caged me.”

  “What were you doing until it caught you and caged you? Did you pluck flowers and give it to the pigeon? Were you nodding away? Are you that lazy?”

  “No!”

  “If you are not lazy, you could have flown away when that lunatic came to catch you. Why did you get caught by the lunatic?”

  The cage parrot laughed.

  “At that time, my wings were not fully developed. How could I have flown away without having developed wings?

  “Oh! Is that so?”

  “Yes! That is why the lunatic caught me easily and imprisoned me in the cage. I shouted and screamed. I screamed until my vocal cord snapped! But the lunatic did not hear my screams. It caught and caged me with my heart pounding rapidly.”

  Old parrot’s heart softened further. It looked at it up and down.

  “Were you imprisoned in the cage for a long time?”

  “Yes, I was indeed imprisoned in the small cage for a long time.”

  “One bird belonging to the black race was also imprisoned for a long time. So you are saying that likewise you were also imprisoned?”

  “That black race bird adopted the ways of another bird which practised fasting. It was imprisoned for a long time for fighting for the liberation of its race. But I am not like that. I was caged by the pathetic desire of a bird-lover.”

  “You could have escaped from the cage at an opportune time!”

  “That wasn’t possible! That lunatic would not allow my wings to grow. It would keep cutting them as they grow. Even after cutting, it won’t keep the cage open.

  “It would keep it open once in a while. Even if it opens it, it would be consumed by fear. It would fear that I would fly away and hence catch hold of me and make me sit on its index finger. It would not just make me sit. It would coo at me and make me sit by pressing down my feet with its thumb. How can one escape under such circumstances?”

  When it said these, a young parrot brought a black jaumoon plum and placed it inside the cage bird’s mouth. The cage bird grasped it cleverly and bit into it as the juice spurted out.

  “Gosh! The fruit is so tasty! Once I bit and sucked on it, I did not even realise it moving from the throat into the mouth!’ it said.

  “Have you not eaten such a tasty jaumoon plum before?”

  “I believe I may have eaten when I was a baby. I cannot remember. I haven’t even seen a jaumoon plum with my eyes when I was in the cage! That lunatic would always give me papaya and long beans as food,” said the cage bird screwing its face.

  “Padi, seeds, and grains?”

  “What are they?”

  The old parrot was amazed.

  “So you cannot get any of the things that I mentioned?”

  “Cannot get!”

  “Hmm… It would not even give grains and seeds for you to eat. How did you manage to escape now from the lunatic?”

  The cage parrot took a deep breath and laughed.

  “Why do you ask? The lunatic did not cut my wings for a while. The wings started to grow bit by bit. I was also thinking, ‘Let it grow a little longer, I shall wait for an opportune time to give this lunatic a slip.’”

  Immediately the old parrot asked, “So, once the wings grew, you escaped at the most convenient time?”

  The cage parrot laughed.

  “No, that was not what happened!”

  “Then how did you escape?”

  “One day, the lunatic came towards the cage laughing. It smiled at me. Well, I thought, ‘Perhaps it has gone madder, and that is why it is coming towards me laughing.’ On the other hand, I shivered with fright that perhaps it was approaching me to cut my wings. But, it did not come to cut my wings.”

  As the parrot said “When it came close to th
e cage, it opened the door”, the old parrot interjected and asked, “So you immediately flew and came here.”

  “It did not happen that way! That lunatic kept the cage door open and looked at me and then it sang ‘Freedom, freedom, from this day you are free!’, and it put its hand inside and grabbed me. It placed the tip of its nose on top of my nose and said, ‘This darling shall not be imprisoned inside this cage anymore! Fly away! Go and join your kind and roam freely!’ I could not believe it. I do not know why it had a change of heart.

  “It occurred to me that I should not idle for even one second. I was struggling to fly away. It held me above its head saying ‘Fly away’ and made me fly. I raised my wings high above and flew away for my dear life. My body parts and muscles which had become hardened as a result of being kept in the cage for a long time refused to loosen. I could not carry my body and fly.”

  “Even then, I flew gritting my beak: I flew endlessly! I had no preference for where to fly to. I flew with closed eyes and eventually landed here,” it said.

  All the parrots looked at it with gaping mouth.

  “So that loony had given you freedom on its own accord, then!” said the old parrot.

  “Yes! That loony had given me freedom on its own accord,” said the cage parrot, nodding his head.

  Although the old parrot was listening to what the cage bird was saying, its mind was not there. It was thinking about the independence gained by its own country. At the same time, it looked at the cage parrot intently.

  “Somehow the lunatic had released you, and you have been set free.”

  “Yes!”

  “How do you feel about this freedom?” it asked.

  “Why do you ask? If you want me to say it in our parrot language, one can say that there are no words at all! My heart is very gratified. I am happy. I feel that I am not a slave to anything now.

  “I have also gained the confidence that ‘I am a ruler of myself’. The turbaned bird of the neighbouring country also dreamt how “we will dance joyfully and sing that we have achieved joyful independence!”1 Its dream has come true for me! I am enjoying that dream bit by bit. I am dancing and singing!” Saying thus, it stood up and danced, shaking the branch it was sitting on.