Another cartoon story with moral lesson from “Khunkha Magazine”, True Friend, is a folktale from India.
The story of True Friend is believed to happen in the forest, located in the valley of the Himalayas that stretch across the northeastern portion of India.
Let’s start reading True Friend together.
To view full picture in PDF please click the link True Friend
A long, long time ago in the forest of the Himalayas near the Ganges River, there was a big tree laden with very delicious fruit all year round. The fruit was very juicy and sweet because this tree received the water from the Ganges River.
The fruit from this tree attracted thousands of parrots to eat and nest along the banks of the river. “Oh! What a sweetest fruit I’ve ever tasted!”, said one of the parrots just eaten for the first time.
The Parrot King, the king of those parrots, also ate the sweet fruit from this tree everyday.
He not only loved but also was so proud of this tree. “You are like my best friend. All my family and I are very grateful to you,” said the Parrot King to the tree.
One sad day, something bad happened to the tree. It started to be like a sick person. The sweet fruit rotted and fell off the tree one by one and then almost no fruit was left on that poor tree.
The tree trunk with all branches began to wither and shrink. All the lively green leaves started to turn from green to yellowish color and fell down on the ground. Thousands of parrots, used to live nearby, flew away to find the new food sources.
Only the Parrot King did not fly away to search for food. He still clung to the poor tree and survived on just a little food left on the small branches and drank water from the Ganges River. “I’ll never leave you, my friend,” sadly said the Parrot King to the tree.
At the same time, what just happened on the earth was seen by the God Indra, the king of gods. The God Indra was so astonished at the Parrot King’s behavior.
“Oh…it’s incredible! There’s still someone not thinking of oneself like that Parrot King,” the God Indra said to himself.
The God Indra wanted to test the Parrot King so he disguised as a King of the swans and flew from the heaven down to the Ganges River near that tree. “Hello…the Parrot King, please take a look at that barren tree. It will be wither away soon. Why are you still here?” asked the King of the swans.
“Oh! That’s because this tree is my true friend,” sadly answered the Parrot King.
The Parrot King continued his conversation, “All this time this tree gave the delicious fruit to me and my family and we were very thankful for the food.”
“In the day this tree healthy and laden with fruit, we shared the good times together. But right now, it is the hard times of my friend so I should be here,” the Parrot King insisted to be there for his friend.
The God Indra, in the King of the swans disguise, was very satisfied with that answer so he showed the Parrot King who he really was.
“You’re absolutely a true friend so I’m going to grant you one wish. What do you wish for?” the God Indra kindly asked the Parrot King.
The Parrot King was so delighted to hear that. He gladly answered, “My only wish is my friend remains healthy and happy again.”
So the God Indra made that wish come true.
At once, the poor tree began to grow a lot of branches with green leaves and then became laden with blossoms and bright color juicy fruit.
The Parrot King was very happy his friend turned back to be healthy and laden with delicious sweet fruit all year round again.
True Friend always loves, cares, and never leaves when you need help.
True Friend is not easy to find so we suppose to keep this relationship for life.