Freedom
Tin Tin the squirrel opened his eyes and listened to the sound that woke
him up. It was a faint cry of another squirrel from a little distance away.
Tin Tin looked out his window and scanned all the trees around, but he couldn’t see any other squirrel.
That afternoon, Tin Tin heard the cry again. It sounded so sad. Tin Tin decided that he had to find the squirrel and ask him what was wrong. But after running and searching all over, Tin Tin still couldn’t find any squirrel. Just when he was about to give-up, he heard the cry again. When he listened carefully,
Tin Tin realised that it was coming
from the house below.
Tin Tin slowly approached the house. The cry was coming from inside the house. The squirrel slowly climbed
onto the window-sill and looked inside. Not too far from the window was a cage and inside that cage was a small squirrel. It was he, who was crying asking for help.
Tin Tin looked around to make sure that there were no humans nearby.
He was scared of them. Some humans were not nice at all and did horrible things to animals. “Please get me out! Get me out!” shouted the small squirrel after seeing Tin Tin. “Don’t shout, I’ll
try to help you,” said Tin Tin, going
near the cage.
Tin Tin looked around. The cage door was locked. He couldn’t open it. He tried to bite it, but it was hard and it only hurt his teeth. “How did you get inside this?” asked Tin Tin. “They trapped and caught me!” cried the small squirrel, “and now I am a prisoner, even though
I haven’t done any wrong to anyone!”
Just then a boy walked in. “I’ll be back,” Tin Tin promised the small squirrel and quickly ran away.
The boy put some pieces of cut fruit
into the cage. Tin Tin went away,
trying to think of how to help the
small squirrel.
“”Why do you look so sad? Look at all the apples and grapes and the other food I’ve given you. If you were out, you’d never even get to see these! You’re also safe here from big animals. You even have a soft bed to sleep in.
I don’t understand what’s wrong!” The boy said to the little squirrel and walked away looking disappointed.
The next day
Tin Tin came near the small squirrel, after making sure that there was no one else around.
The small squirrel looked weak. “Didn’t you eat anything?”
asked Tin Tin. “No, I am too sad to eat!” cried the small squirrel.
“I used to run freely all over the trees. I scampered on roofs and enjoyed seeing the endless blue sky above me. In the mornings I would sun bathe, lying lazily on the branches. I met other squirrels and played hide and seek with them. But now I am locked up here in a cage like a prisoner!” cried the small
squirrel, bringing tears to Tin Tin’s
eyes as well.
“Don’t worry little one. I’ll help you somehow!” said Tin Tin. But deep in his heart he knew that there wasn’t much he could do to help. He was as tiny as the small prisoner. “Please eat something, or you’ll fall sick!” said
Tin Tin. “This food looks and smells good, but it doesn’t make me happy!” cried the small squirrel. Tin Tin went away feeling very sorry for the little squirrel.
The next day the boy saw that the squirrel had eaten a little. But he still looked very sad. The boy’s grandfather visited him that day and he wanted to show-off his new pet. “He looks depressed,” said the boy’s grandfather after observing the squirrel. “No he’s not! Look at how he’s playing,” said the boy, pointing at the squirrel who was suddenly running up and down the cage. “I’m afraid he’s not playing, although it does look like that,” replied the boy’s grandfather.”He’s acting like that because he’s scared and stressed! He’s also trying to find a way to escape.”
The elderly gent touched his grandson’s shoulder lovingly, “It’s wrong to keep wild animals caged and to treat them like pets. If you want a pet, you should get a domestic animal like a cat, dog or goldfish.” The boy looked down and muttered, “But I love him!” “If you really love him, you would gift him his freedom back!” said the boy’s grandfather. “Just like we celebrate and enjoy our freedom, all animals on earth should be able to enjoy their freedom as well. Freedom is a right that every living being is entitled to,” explained the boy’s grandfather.
Tin Tin got up the next morning and thought of a way to save the small squirrel. “How helpless we animals are, over the selfish acts of humans,”he thought sadly. “Hello,” said someone and Tin Tin got startled and almost fell off his branch. He turned to see who it was. What a surprise! It was the small squirrel who was in the cage. “How did you get out?” shouted Tin Tin, hugging the small fellow as he was unable to control his happiness.
“I really don’t know what happened! The big human took the cage out and the small human opened the door.
So I ran out as fast as I could!” said the small squirrel. “What made them do that, I wonder,” said Tin Tin, “but they did such a good deed by releasing you and both of them will be blessed for that!”
“Yes,” said the small squirrel, “they will be blessed for giving me the chance to live my life the way it should be lived. I am finally free and happy. There’s no bigger blessing for me than to live a happy life enjoying my freedom!”