Charlie, the angel

Akham Bonbirdhwaja Singh *

There was a boy named Charlie. There was no water in the house. There was no water in the rivers too.

He looked around and saw no tree around. There were only red hills and barren soils.

There was so much of cutting down of forests and burning that the god of forests did not have any place to stay.

As the god of forests did not stay, his friends the clouds and rains stopped visiting him so, there was very little rain.

The place became so dry and people have to go miles and miles for a bucket of water. Water was costlier than food.

People had to fight for water and wells were drying up. The animals have become sick and people are all thin and skinny.

The boy knew, this cannot continue for long. So the boy thought that he must do something. So he took a lot of seedsof trees and went to the barren hills and started sowing them.

As there was no soil and water on the ground, the seeds did not germinate and no plant was coming up.

His friends made a joke out of him and called him Charlie the forester without trees, but Charlie did not lose heart, he kept on planting. With very little rain that came the seeds sprouted.

Struggling, the little plants grew and there was a green look coming.

The forest god who was looking at what Charlie was doing and he was happy. He told his friend the rain to go there and give some water.

The rain god came and gave some water, but not much, just little so that the small plants grow. How can he give more water where his friend (forest) is not there?

As the seeds sprouted and developed in to a small sapling, the forest god was very happy and he started visiting the place frequently and as he visited the place, his friend the rain god also started coming.

After some time the whole place was full of trees and it became a forest and forest god started living there.

The rain god also visited the place regularly. The streams and rivers swelled up with water.

The animals became healthy and people started getting good food and water.

The boy spent all his time in the forests and took care of the trees. The forest god was happy.

"I am very pleased with you, my boy. A boy like you can save the whole village, if we have more boys like you; the world could be much better place. You can ask me a boon." the forest god said.

The boy begged, "Let me go and ask my people"

Now people have realised that if the forest god leaves, they will be in trouble again. So, they told the boy to take a boon that the forest god should never leave.

"I want that you never leave us" Charlie said. "If you leave the rain god also will not come."

"I can grant you that in one condition, if you do not cut the trees, I will always be here and the rain god also will always come"said the Sylvan God.

The villagers agreed and since then the rain god regularly visited the village. Their village has become the wealthiest and best village around.

They knew it was Charlie who brought back the forest god and rain god, so, they named the boy, Charlie, the angel.