The Blue Eyed Crow

“The Blue Eyed Crow” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Rahimah Ejaz Hoda, Mother Marys School,Mayur Vihar, India.

The Blue Eyed Crow

One day, while a fox was out walking, he saw a crow swoop down and pick up a piece of cheese in its beak. Flapping its wings, the crow flew onto a high branch in a nearby tree. The fox was not at all interested in that piece of cheese because he was already full after the feast where he had alone managed to kill a deer and ate it. The thing that made the fox look up at the branch was the crow. It was not like an ordinary crow that is black in color and always makes sounds which are like needles that are pricked in the ears. But this crow was brown in color, he had a hooked beak and the most curious of all was that he was using his wings like two hands to eat the cheese. The fox understood that it was not a crow then, what was it? The fox stayed where he was, staring curiously at the crow. The crow didn’t even notice that the fox was staring at him. After a few minutes, the crow realized that he was being watched by an unwanted creature and then he met the fox eyes at last. The fox was very much surprised. He hadn’t seen such eyes before. The crow’s eyes were greenish blue in color and it was like a huge sea floating across his eyes.

Then suddenly the crow flapped its wings and started to fly towards a dense forest. The fox also started to follow the crow in a safe distance. They just moved deeper and deeper into the forest and only the sounds that can be heard was the steps taken by the fox over the twigs and dry leaves. The crow suddenly came to a stop. The fox also got still to see what will happen next and to the fox surprise the crow turned around and the next moment a bright shining light struck and the crow started to change its appearance. The claws started to became two pair of legs, the wings became two pair of hands and the hooked beak became a nose. The fox suddenly realized that the crow was a wizard with white hair and greenish blue eyes. Suddenly with a crooked voice the wizard said “So, you saw me little creature and I know you can’t tell anyone about a wizard living in a forest. But I can’t take risk. Right.”

The fox suddenly felt his whole body numb, he was not able to move, it was petrified.

He saw the wizard raising his wand, he whispered something and struck the wand towards him. A blue light appeared suddenly and the fox fell down towards the ground. He was dead. For a moment, the wizard stared at fox’s body and then, he started laughing very loudly, his voice echoed everywhere in the forest. Then, he transformed himself back into a crow. He flew to the sky and disappeared into the clouds.

Moral – you should not get beguiled by appearance