AN ADVENTURE WITH A CATAPULT

                     A hawk once created a reign of terror for our newly hatched chicks at Surada, my village. I was a school student then. One of our hens had hatched about ten beautiful chicks that looked like colourful velvet balls as they ran about on the backyard under the supervision of the mother hen. Then out of nowhere, a rogue hawk appeared on the scene soon. It  would perch on a branch of our drum-stick tree in the backyard  patiently and waited  for the opportune moment to swoop down upon the chicks that scratched about  the ground with their nimble feet  looking for food. The predator could not harm the brood of chicks on the first day they were released from their coop. Then, it visited our backyard once again  on the second day and carried away two beautiful chicks one after another. My granny and I tried to shoo it away yelling at the hawk loudly. However, the clever raptor got panicked momentarily and flew away. But much to our chagrin, it returned after a few hours to target the chicks. Suddenly, out of concern for the hen and its chicks, I thought of frightening the trespasser with my catapult . On the third day, the avian visitor arrived without our knowledge and perched with confidence on a top branch of the tree to make a killer move with its deadly swoop. I could trace it out as it sat nonchalantly. 

                    Then I aimed at it with my catapult and shot at it with a chip of stone. My shot did not hit the bird, but ricocheted off the branch with a loud thud, scaring the bird. Presumably, the predator was terrorised with my daring attack and flew away abruptly, never to return on its misadventure once again. A smile of complacency came upon my lips then  as a proud feeling came to me that I had saved the chicks and the mother hen.

( Writer- Dr. Pradeep Kumar Nayak )