Kush's house was situated on the far edge of the cone forests. The tall trees separated this area at Pidily from the rest of the world. There were no buildings, no structures and no architectural beauties nearby. All that the eyes could see were trees, the waterfalls, the mist, the forest on one side of their small village and a huge canyon on the other side.
The village had only fourteen families. Kush lived in the place ever since his birth with his parents and his elder brother, just about three years older than him. He also had a pet cat named Oli.
Kush was only eleven years of age and due to non availability of any school nearby, never went to school, like the other kids of his age in the village. While his mother went out to the forest to collect wood to be used as fuel for cooking and his father went to the town for his job, he used to enjoy his time with Oli loitering in and around the canyon.
Often while loitering, he would come infront of the cliff from where he could see the other side of the canyon. Probably this was the region where the canyon was narrowest. But still, the gap was about three meters away, making it practically unreachable for a small kid like Kush. For that matter, it was impossible for any fully grown man also to cross over. Everyday, Kush went to the cliff and thought to himself, that one day, he would be able to cross the cliff and go to the other side to explore what it was like. But every single day, he came, he gave up and then tried the next day.
After several months had passed, he decided to bring his elder brother to see him jump across. He was almost sure that he would do it. But as he reached the edge of the cliff, he saw the river flowing deep in the canyon, his strength failed him. He asked his brother to jump over, but he also got frightened and could not take the leap. Finally his eyes were on the small cat, Oli, his pet. He somehow believed that Oli could do it and so, without even thinking for a second, he held Oli in his hand and came infront of the cliff and threw it to the other side. Oli landed onto the other side of the cliff on its forelimbs and reached safely.
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The cat was surprised and surely wanted to come back, but the distance that it had covered during the onward journey suddenly seemed to have got increased because, there wasn't anyone who could throw it over to the side from where it had been thrown. Oli was scared as Kush had expected it to leap back to them, but was being unable to do it. The afternoon sun was over them when Kush, waiting eagerly to see Oli jump back, came to the conclusion why Oli was not being able to take that leap.
Kush and his elder brother thought of many plans to bring Oli back by using a rope. But they were unsure whether a cat could walk on a rope. So, they thought of bringing a wooden plank to create a bridge across the canyon. All the while they were thinking, they forgot to realise that they were sitting on one such plank which must have been more than three meters long.
The new problem that they were facing was how to push it across the place where there's nothing below it. After pushing it for about one meter, the plank would start getting heavier on the loose end and so fall down into the river. That left them with no other option but to ask their parents to help them. Their mother came and saw that Oli was standing scared close to the cliff on the other side.
She called other villagers for help. People from all the houses came to the cliff and started thinking what could be done, when Kush came infront and said to them to try and jump across as they were old enough to jump, and because of their long legs, it would be just a matter of three seconds. Considering that he was the master of the mishap, everybody looked down upon him with an eye of admonition. Then they brought some ropes and tied one edge of the huge plank with the trunk of the tree, where they had assembled. Since the plank was longer than the width of the gap it would be ideal for someone to put some big weight on the side from where it was being pushed. It could not fall down to the river in any chance because it had been already tied to the tree. So, they started to push the plank across the edge of the cliff. It was almost evening, when the plank had been fully pushed across the edge. As, Oli walked across the newly created bridge, everyone started to feel proud of what they had done.
The old grandmother from the next house called for a village gathering at night, when everybody started rejoicing. The old grandmother called Kush and rewarded him with a gold coin saying, "If you had not created this problem, this bridge would have never got created. From now on, we can also go in search of our food from the mountain forests. Well done boy."
The village had only fourteen families. Kush lived in the place ever since his birth with his parents and his elder brother, just about three years older than him. He also had a pet cat named Oli.
Kush was only eleven years of age and due to non availability of any school nearby, never went to school, like the other kids of his age in the village. While his mother went out to the forest to collect wood to be used as fuel for cooking and his father went to the town for his job, he used to enjoy his time with Oli loitering in and around the canyon.
Often while loitering, he would come infront of the cliff from where he could see the other side of the canyon. Probably this was the region where the canyon was narrowest. But still, the gap was about three meters away, making it practically unreachable for a small kid like Kush. For that matter, it was impossible for any fully grown man also to cross over. Everyday, Kush went to the cliff and thought to himself, that one day, he would be able to cross the cliff and go to the other side to explore what it was like. But every single day, he came, he gave up and then tried the next day.
After several months had passed, he decided to bring his elder brother to see him jump across. He was almost sure that he would do it. But as he reached the edge of the cliff, he saw the river flowing deep in the canyon, his strength failed him. He asked his brother to jump over, but he also got frightened and could not take the leap. Finally his eyes were on the small cat, Oli, his pet. He somehow believed that Oli could do it and so, without even thinking for a second, he held Oli in his hand and came infront of the cliff and threw it to the other side. Oli landed onto the other side of the cliff on its forelimbs and reached safely.
.jpg)
The cat was surprised and surely wanted to come back, but the distance that it had covered during the onward journey suddenly seemed to have got increased because, there wasn't anyone who could throw it over to the side from where it had been thrown. Oli was scared as Kush had expected it to leap back to them, but was being unable to do it. The afternoon sun was over them when Kush, waiting eagerly to see Oli jump back, came to the conclusion why Oli was not being able to take that leap.
Kush and his elder brother thought of many plans to bring Oli back by using a rope. But they were unsure whether a cat could walk on a rope. So, they thought of bringing a wooden plank to create a bridge across the canyon. All the while they were thinking, they forgot to realise that they were sitting on one such plank which must have been more than three meters long.
The new problem that they were facing was how to push it across the place where there's nothing below it. After pushing it for about one meter, the plank would start getting heavier on the loose end and so fall down into the river. That left them with no other option but to ask their parents to help them. Their mother came and saw that Oli was standing scared close to the cliff on the other side.
She called other villagers for help. People from all the houses came to the cliff and started thinking what could be done, when Kush came infront and said to them to try and jump across as they were old enough to jump, and because of their long legs, it would be just a matter of three seconds. Considering that he was the master of the mishap, everybody looked down upon him with an eye of admonition. Then they brought some ropes and tied one edge of the huge plank with the trunk of the tree, where they had assembled. Since the plank was longer than the width of the gap it would be ideal for someone to put some big weight on the side from where it was being pushed. It could not fall down to the river in any chance because it had been already tied to the tree. So, they started to push the plank across the edge of the cliff. It was almost evening, when the plank had been fully pushed across the edge. As, Oli walked across the newly created bridge, everyone started to feel proud of what they had done.
The old grandmother from the next house called for a village gathering at night, when everybody started rejoicing. The old grandmother called Kush and rewarded him with a gold coin saying, "If you had not created this problem, this bridge would have never got created. From now on, we can also go in search of our food from the mountain forests. Well done boy."
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