ALI lived in a small village near Lahore. During summer holidays he got bored because he did not have anything to do and his parents did not allow him to play outside due to the hot weather.

One day, feeling very bored in the morning, he was walking outside his home when he saw that on the tree just outside his house some birds were sitting and chirping merrily. Watching them Ali got an idea and rushed home and came back with an old plastic plate containing some grains. Moving slowly towards the tree, he kept the bowl under it and moved back to watch.

In no time, one by one, then all together, the birds came down and started feeding excitedly on the grains. Watching their antics as they enjoyed their meal made Ali very happy and he forgot his boredom. Then this became an everyday morning routine for Ali, who would ask his mother to give him various things like rice, bread pieces and seeds, with water in another bowl.

Ali’s parents asked him why he wanted to feed the birds to which Ali replied that it made him feel good to see the birds become so happy and it helped pass his time.

At this Ali’s father tried to explain to him, “Son, nature’s creations know how to take care of themselves and these birds will find their own food like they have been doing before you started feeding them.”

But these words didn’t discourage Ali from feeding the birds, which now became so friendly with him that sometimes they would sit on his head or shoulders, and didn’t fly away when he came near them.

One day it started raining and it kept on raining for three days. Ali would look out of the window to see if his dear birds were there, but it rained so heavily that he could not see much. When the rain slowed down to a drizzle, he quickly rushed out with his bowl of seeds but found that the ground below the tree where he use to keep the bowl was now like a little lake. Dejected, he returned inside and waited for the sky to calm down and the sun to reappear.

On the fourth day, the bright sunlight coming though Ali’s bedroom window woke him up. Realising that the rain had stopped, he quickly rushed into the kitchen and filled the feeding bowl with bird feed that he has started buying specially for his beloved birds, and rushed outside to keep it for his little friends.

Keeping the bowl at its usually place, Ali waited for the birds to arrive and start feeding. Nothing happened for some time, making Ali worried. He thought the birds had died due to hunger during the rains, and just as he was about to return home, he saw a bird appear and fly close to him.

Excited Ali cried, “Oh you have come! Sorry I could not feed you due to the rainfall but go ahead and have a feast, and call your friends too.”

The bird circled over Ali’s head and then headed towards the south, flying for some distance and then came back towards Ali. This continued for some time, making Ali puzzled at this strange behaviour of the bird. The bird showed no interest in the feeding bowl and made noises when it came near Ali. Finally Ali came back home, unable to understand why the bird behaved so strangely.

Seeing Ali’s sad face, his grandfather asked him the matter. Ali narrated the strange incident to him which made his grandfather thoughtful. Grandfather came out with Ali and asked him to show him the direction where the bird would flew after coming close to Ali. Ali pointed towards the south, which was incidentally the direction of a hill near the village. At this Ali’s grandfather understood the bird’s message.

“Grandson, I think the bird was trying to warn you about a danger that is about to befall us. The bird was asking you to move towards the hill to be on higher ground as a flood is coming towards our village.”

“What? How is it possible?”

“My dear, nature has given animals very sharp instincts and they can sense impending natural disasters before human beings can. I think we must hurry and warn everyone and head over to the hill,” grandfather explained.

The two quickly went around and told everyone, who gathered some important belongings which they could carry and moved over to the hill. By the afternoon, as correctly predicted by the bird, the riverbank near the village burst due to the overflowing river and the village was waist-deep in water. Some houses were swept away but not a single person was injured as they had all reached safety due to the timely warning by Ali’s bird friend.

Now everyone thanked Ali for saving them and Ali, in his heart, thanked his friend, realising that a good deed never goes to waste, even if it is towards an animal.