Story Contest 2016 #1 - Outstanding Stories » Mohit and the Mango Tree

“Mohit and the Mango Tree” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual Short Story Contest 2016 written by Aditya George, Bangalore, India

Mohit and the Mango Tree

Mohit lived with his parents and elder brother, right in the centre of the town, in a small house. At the backyard of his house, there stood a tall, ancient mango tree with lots of branches and leaves. It was the only tree in the whole neighbourhood, and a lot of birds made it their home.

One day, as Mohit was playing at the backyard, he saw that the mango tree had started bearing fruits. Every year it used to give a lot of mangoes, but usually the birds used to come and eat all the mangoes. This year also, Mohit thought sadly, the birds would eat all the mangoes. He thought and thought a lot about what to do, to prevent the birds from eating all the mangoes up.

After thinking for a while, Mohit got an idea. He decided to set a trap for the birds. With the help of his big brother, he set a bird trap near the mango tree.

The very next day, he found a few birds caught in the trap. He took them out of the trap and released them to the sky. In the next couple of days, Mohit did the same. He took the birds out of the trap and released them. After a few days, he found that the birds no longer came. Mohit was happy that his plan had worked. He eagerly waited for the mangoes to ripen. He had many plans: He would eat the mangoes raw, make mango juice and so on.

After a long wait, one fine day, a ripe mango fell. Mohit ran and picked it up. He washed it and took a bite. Alas! Inside the mango, there were worms and insects!

Mohit was in tears. He ran to his father and explained the problem to him. His father smiled at him. “Do you know why there are insects in the mango?” he asked Mohit.

Mohit shook his head.

“Earlier, when the birds used to come, they ate up all the insects on the tree. Now that there are no birds coming, the insects are uncontrollable. They are spoiling the mangoes,” his father explained.

Mohit understood his mistake. With the help of his father, he removed the bird trap. Gradually, birds began to come to the tree. The insects disappeared slowly. The birds ate some mangoes, but a few fell to the ground, which made Mohit glad. “Some mangoes for the birds, and some mangoes for me,” Mohit said, happily biting into a ripe, sweet mango.

MORAL: All living things are part of a chain of life. If one link is broken, it affects the other parts of the chain negatively.