DoDo-The Whale

Long, long ago, far away in the deep blue ocean, lived a little blue whale named Dodo. Little he was by age but being a Whale, he was by no means little in size. Dodo had a friendly nature and loved playing with his friends.

But unfortunately, nearer to where he lived along with his family, there was no other whale that was of his age. Disappointed, he stayed at home for several days dreaming of playing with a group of friends.

One day, his mother, the big blue whale told him, "Dodo! What is worrying you?

 What if you do not have friends near our house? We live in a big place which is a home for other fishes and animals too. Go out and make some friends." Thanking his mother for her great suggestion, Dodo swam here and there day after day and met many fishes in the ocean.

           With his friendly nature, he could make friends with few of them and was soon in- vited to join their play. Content that he had a good many friends to play with, he ran to his mother and said, "Mama! I can't tell you how happy I am. Now I have so many friends to play with." His mother stroked his head af- fectionately and said, "Dodo! I am glad you found some friends for yourself.

But remember to be careful while you play. Do not ever go to deserted places and get into trouble. Be helpful and take care of your friends too." Though Dodo failed to un- derstand half of what his mother said, he nod- ded his head excitedly and took her leave to go back to his friends.

Though Dodo made friends with those fishes which were more or less of his own age, he looked much bigger than all of them due to his huge size.

Even big fishes of other species, much older than Dodo looked small when they Stood beside him. But until one day, his size never mattered to the baby Dodo, who was always excited about nothing else other than playing with his friends.

The favourite pastime of Dodo's group vas playing hide and seek. Every morning, 

They gathered at a common place and swam towards the rocky area nearby, to play. Though Dodo loved hide and seek, there was one thing that gradually started bothering him. He lost the game, whenever he played it. Ini- tially, he tried hard to hide himself behind the rocks and the sandy hills not to be found out by his friends. But, his size always gave him away and within minutes, his friends found out where he was. 

Then, as per the rules of the game, it would be Dodo's turn to search and catch his friends. So tiny were all his friends that they quickly slipped into minute corners and holes in the rocks.

Sometimes, they even hid behind Dodo's in huge tail and enjoyed the fun while Dodo  desperately searched for them in every corner he could reach.

Thus, Dodo searched and searched for his friends the whole day in vain but never could catch even a single fish. The game always ended with his friends coming out from their hiding places and showing up on their own, vexed by Dodo's inability to catch them.

The same continued for several days without any change. How could there be a difference when there was neither a change in the play they chose nor a change in Dodo's size? His friends thoroughly enjoyed the game and laughed at Dodo whenever he lost.

Frustrated with what was happening with him, Dodo gave up the play one day and rushed to his mother with tears in his lovely,  black eyes.

Hugging his mother, Dodo said, "Mama! SI I am tired of all this. I can't take it any more." With absolutely no clue of what he was talk- Sing about, Dodo's mother asked, "What hap- pened baby? Why are you so upset and angry today?"

"Mama, it's the game that's bothering me. I hide, my friends can easily find me out wherever I am but when it's my turn to find them, not even once I could succeed, even after spending the whole day,searching for them." The blue whale fell silent when she heard Dodo's complaint not knowing what to do. "How can I tell this, boy that it's just a game?" she thought, think of a right answer to pacify him. 

Meanwhile, Dodo again said, "I know I am losing only because of my size. Why Mama? Why am I born big? Why can't I be tiny like all my friends?" Dodo was so sad that tears flowed down his baby cheeks when he said so to his mother.

Trying to comfort her little son, his  mother replied, "My dear boy! You are different from your friends because you are a Whale. We, Whales are the most unique and different from the other fishes in the sea Don't forget that you are just a baby Whale You will grow much bigger when you grow up fully."

Terrified by the piece of information he got from his mother, Dodo let out a loud shriek and said, "Even bigger? I am already tired of my size. I do not want to grow any

bigger. I want to be tiny and you are scaring me by saying that I will only grow bigger."

The big whale patiently replied, "Son! You must understand that this is what we are. You must be proud that you belong to the Whale family, the biggest animals on this Earth." Sniffing aloud, Dodo retorted, "Be proud? You want me to be proud of this dread-ful size?"

Though she knew that Dodo was in no  mood to listen to her, his mother said, "Dodo! 'Don't be so upset. There are many things to be proud of for being a Whale. Do you know that we are not fish but mammals who live in water? No one else on this earth has a foun- tain on their heads like we do. Coming to our size, you will soon understand that it's only our size that guards us from other creatures in the sea. We need not fear anyone because others fear our huge size and shrink back from harming us. And..."

While she was still trying to convince little Dodo, he stopped her in between and yelled, "Even if all that you said was true, I don't want to be big. All that I know is that I can't play hide and seek with my friends be- cause of this odd size of mine. How I hate being a Whale!" Saying so, Dodo started swimming away from there.

As he swam swiftly out of his house, "Learn to be happy with what you are, Dodo. You may not understand now but you would be proud to be a Whale soon." cried out his mother, as a last try to convince him. Dodo, though having heard her words, ignored them completely and lashed his tail harder in wa- ter, displacing it violently.

The next day, Dodo as usual went to his friends to play with them. By the time he reached, his friends were making plans to play in a deserted place that was located beyond the rocks, their usual play area.

On seeing Dodo, they asked, "Dodo, shall we play hide and seek in the area be- yond our normal place?" Dodo who very well remembered his mother's instructions not to go too far away from home replied, "Playing in the deserted place, beyond the rocks? I won't agree."

Surprised at his reply, one of his tiny friends said, "Why Dodo? Are you scared to try a new place?" Dodo patiently told them that it was not safe and also told about his mother's instructions.

Instead of understanding Dodo, his friends ridiculed, "Our Dodo is scared. Look at how big he is, but still he is scared." Try- ing not to lose his patience, Dodo replied, "Friends! Stop your sarcasm and listen to me. It is very dangerous there. Listen to me and give up your foolishness." However, friends were in no mood to take his advice Ridiculing him all the more, his tiny friends swam away towards the deserted place, leaving Dodo all alone.

Dodo sat there helplessly looking at his friends who, he thought were inviting danger by swimming to an unknown place. he sat there feeling very lonely and deserted. As Dodo was about to swim back to his house he heard loud shrieks coming through the water. In an instance, he recognized that those were the shrieks of his friends and realized that they were in trouble.

Dodo quickly swam in the direction from which he heard the sounds and reached the place in less than few seconds. There, he was astonished to see his friends swimming here and there in panic.

As soon as they saw Dodo, his tiny friends turned towards him and quickly hid behind his tail in fear. Not knowing the reason for their fear, when Dodo looked around,

he saw a big shark that was busily racing in their direction. 

      Dodo now knew what the trouble was. He became alert, covered his friends totally with his big tail and stood before the shark. Looking fiercely at the shark, Dodo grunted aloud. The moment the Shark saw Dodo, the - Whale, in front of him, his courage failed him.  He dropped his jaw in fear and took a quick turn away from Dodo and vanished from there.

    Dodo's friends peeped from behind and saw all that had happened. They were amazed that the Shark was terrified, just by the sight of their friend. They all rushed from behind and thanked Dodo for saving their lives.

Apologizing for their bad behavior 

to- wards him, they said, "Dodo! Now we have realized what a great and powerful friend we have.

Unlike us, you were wise not to run to- wards dangers though you had the size and ability to face difficult situations. We are glad you helped us even though we ridiculed you We shall forever remain your friends and the ten to your advice."

Dodo was that he could hi friends and in the heart of his hearts, he knew that he knew could do so only because he was different and big. In order to pull out his dear friends from their worried mood, Dodo said "Friends! Let us take a break from our usual play and do something different today. I will show you many things which you have neve seen before."

As his friends looked at him in astonishment, Dodo asked them to climb his back and at once leapt upwards reaching the surface of the sea.

Then he asked them to sit on the foun tain on his head one after the other. Still confused what Dodo was planning to do, his friends silently obeyed him.

As soon as they sat on his head, he spurted his fountain with great force. Lo! All his friends were shot out of water by that fountain into the world above. The tiny fishes, who had been in water and water alone all through their lives, did not even know that a beautiful world existed out of water.

Amazed and thrilled to see the sky, the clouds, the Sun and the other beauties of na- ture, they let out loud shrieks of joy when Dodo tossed them above one after the other.

After a great time, when they swam back to the water beneath and settled down, Dodo's friends gathered around him and hugged his huge body with their tiny fins. "You are a true friend Dodo. We can't tell you enough how much we love you," they all said in a chorus.

Dedo was very happy that he could make his friends happy and told them that he too loved them very much. Now he knew for sure that he could save his friends and make them happy only because he was big and different.

"I like being a Whale. My size can be a great use to my friends," he thought. Bidding goodbye to his tiny friends and promising to meet them again the next day, Dodo swam  excitedly towards his home to tell his mother how much he liked being a Whale, a big blue Whale…