The Forest Man

Sarit and Minali were brother and sister as were their cousins, Rohit and Sheena. They were holidaying in December with their grandmother in Rakwana. Grandma had a cottage in a little farm, surrounded by fields and forests. The four of them knew the terrain well, as they had visited it many times.

The day after they arrived, they asked for a picnic lunch and set off on a hike, with grandma
asking them to be careful. The girls picked wildflowers and the boys were climbing trees and running around. By noon, when they came to a tiny tream.

They sat around and ate their sandwiches of seeni sambol with boiled eggs . Ro fell in the water when he tried to jump over the stream. He laid his shirt to dry on a bush and was hopping and dancing like a red Indian, perhaps, to get his trousers dry too.

Then, the boys got busy making catapult holders with tree branches they found on the ground. They cut and cleaned two forked branches in a ‘y’ shape. While Minali splashed her legs in the water, Sheena ran behind a big orange and brown butterfly, that teasingly led her into the little forest and flitted from tree to tree. When Sheena stopped and looked around she couldn’t find the foot path that she came along.

She turned back and walked up and down As the ground was hilly, Sheena slipped and went tumbling a little way down. She screamed as she fell. She sat and saw that her knee was grazed badly and blood oozing out, she started to cry.

Then a kind voice told her: "Little girl don’t cry I will help you. What are you doing so far from your house?"
Sheena told the man how she came to be there. He asked her to follow him and as she limped, he saw that she had scratched her knee badly. He said he’ll attend to it and led her a little way and they came to a cave whose entrance was hidden by bushes and trees.

Sheena found the cave cool and mellow. A sheath of light came from a small hole in the ceiling. This made the cave look cosy. Sheena saw a roll of bedding, a funny looking chair and table and a
makeshift rack for pans and books and other things "What a delightful place, The others will be jealous when they know I found you."

"Did you find me or did I find you?""Oh you did, you did, but still I’m the one who met you first."
They heard a noise outside, with running and crashing about. He peeped out and said, "It’s your friends." Sheena went out and called them. They were surprised to see Sheena smiling." We heard you scream and we came running."

"I fell down a slope and scratched my knee. But, Mr. Forest looked after me well. Come in," called Sheena. The other three children were amazed to see the cave and the forest man with long hair and rumpled clothes.

"Please sit down," said a deep voice. They sat on a log on the ground. "I’m glad you came to
rescue your sister but she is safe." The children wanted to ask many questions but remained silent.
The forest man took some water from a small barrel and washed Sheena’s knee. He dried it and applied a queer yellow ointment with a fragrant smell and Sheena sniffed at it.

"What is it? I like the smell." "It’s made of all kinds of herbs and roots," said the forest man. "You wouldn’t know any of them but it will heal quickly." "It feels soothing." Sheena said and asked her friends, "Do you have any sandwiches left?""Not one, we would have saved you some, if we knew."

"You can have some food," said the forest man. He brought boiled sweet potato with chilli sambol and gave them. Sheena ate but the others thanked him and said "no." They were already full with
sandwiches. They chatted to the forest man.

There was a pause and suddenly the forest man held up his hand. They all fell silent and watched the entrance to the cave. They saw a pair of big ears and a large pair of anxious eyes. A wild hare slipped in and twitched his nose, sat up and sniffed the air.

"Well Dinky," the forest man said in his deep clear voice, "have you come to visit me? Don’t be afraid of the children." The hare came nearer and sniffed at his outstretched hand and then became startled as Minali moved and then the hare turned and fled. Ro chided Minali for moving.

"Is he a tame hare?" cried the children. "No, he’s a wild one. But his leg was injured and I set it and looked after it till it healed. Now he visits me regularly." "Are there any other animals who visit you?" asked Ro eagerly. "Oh yes," said Mr. Forest, "the birds as well. I know their nests and their little ones. I share their lives. I’m as wild as they are."

"Can we meet them too?" Mr. Forest went silent. "You didn’t care for my woods. You left the
sandwich papers strewn about. They will become pulp with the dew and rain and hinder the growth of plants and make the little animals sick if they eat the pulp."

"We were careless. We're so sorry," Sarit said. " We will pick them up on the way back and not let it happen again." "I have picked up your papers already." The children felt ashamed. "No promises, but maybe next time, I will take Ro to see my friends and if they like him, I will take you others too, later." "Thank you so much."

The children beamed as they stood up to leave. They left the cave, talking nineteen to the dozen
excitedly.