The Golden Mallard

Long ago in a forest in northeastern India there lived a golden mallard. He was a spectacular bird. His feathers were not simply gold in color, they were actual gold. His feathers caught the sunlight and sparkled with a breathtaking beauty.

The mallard was very aware of how humans lusted after gold. Because of this awareness he always kept himself well concealed from human eyes.

At the edge of the mallard's home forest there was a small grass hut where a widowed woman and her two daughters lived. The woman and her daughters collected wildflowers. They sold the flowers to people outside the nearby temple to Ganesha. The people used the flowers as offerings to the gentle god.

The mother and her daughters remained very poor. The mallard often watch the family collecting and sorting the flowers. He became very fond of the kind and gentle girls.

One day when the girls where outside their hut, the mallard flew and landed on the roof. The girls where overjoyed to see such a beautiful bird.

"Mother, mother," they called. "Come out and see the wonderful bird that has landed on our hut."

The mother came out and was as amazed as her daughters.

The mallard spoke to the girls and their mother.

"I would like to help you," he said. " I can occasionally give you one of my feathers. You can use it to buy food and clothes."

He then plucked out one of his long flight feathers and gave it to the elder of the two daughters. The family was delighted.

Over the following months, the mallard gave them more feathers. The mallard was not hurt by his generosity. Each feather he removed was quickly replaced by a new one, always more gold.

The wealth of the household increased greatly. Now the mother and her daughters were able to afford as much food as they desired. Each of them bought several new and beautiful saris.

But one day the mother said to her daughters, "I don't know if we can trust that bird. What if he decides to go somewhere else? What if he meets a family he likes more than ours? We won't have the money to buy all the wonderful food we now eat.We wouldn't be able to afford anymore new saris. I think we should catch that duck the next time he comes and we can pluck out all of the golden feathers before he decides to abandon us. Then we would be the wealthiest family in the land."

The girls protested strongly, thinking of the pain and the indignity their mother would cause the gentle and kind bird.

But their mother would not listen. The next time the mallard came to offer a feather, the mother grabbed the generous bird. She furiously pulled out all the golden feather. When finished, she tossed the pain racked bird into an old discarded basket once used to collect followers.

But then something amazing happened. All the golden feather the woman had pulled from the kind bird now slowly changed. They became regular mallard feathers.

Watching the feathers change was like watching the color of life fade from something that had just died.

In cruelly stealing the golden feathers, the mother had deprived them of their beauty and magic.

The mother wailed and lamented the great loss of the fortune she thought she had seized.

Her daughters wailed also. But, they wailed and wept for the poor mallard. He could no longer fly and was now unprotected from the weather and insects, the sun and the rain.

The girls took the mallard and wrapped him in a beautiful silken sari. They nursed him until his strength and feathers had returned.

But, his feathers, as they grew back, were no longer gold. His new feathers were nor ordinary gray and tan and brown mallard feathers.

When his health had fully returned, the mallard thanked the girls for their kindness and flew away deep into the forest to join a flock of mallards that lived far from humans.

He was sorry to leave the girls, and he promised to visit them from time to time if it was safe. But he now no longer wished to live anywhere near people. He had seen and learned firsthand what greed can do.