Whose Fault Is It? .

- Mihir Rathod

- "King Sher Singh! My weight is nothing! A hundred of me could cross at once and the bridge wouldn't even wiggle! Halloo is the one who broke the real rule!"

Panic was buzzing through the forest! The old wooden bridge that crossed the river had collapsed into a heap of splintered planks. And right beside it, an argument was brewing.

“This is your fault, Halloo!” squeaked Choon Choon the Rat, pointing an angry whisker at the elephant. “You’re so heavy, you broke the bridge! I’m going to tell King Sher Singh!”

Halloo the Elephant curled his trunk. “Hmph! Watch your words, little squeak,” he rumbled. “One more peep out of you and I’ll trap you under a peanut shell!”

But Choon Choon was not scared. He zipped off towards the King’s clearing, with Halloo and a crowd of curious animals stomping behind him.

King Sher Singh listened patiently. “Halloo,” he said in his regal voice, “did you break the bridge?”

“No, Your Majesty!” Halloo declared. “It was him! The sign clearly says, ‘One Animal at a Time.’ I was on the bridge, and then he scurried on right behind me. He’s the rule-breaker!”

The animals murmured. That did seem logical.

But Choon Choon gathered his courage. “King Sher Singh! My weight is nothing! A hundred of me could cross at once and the bridge wouldn't even wiggle! Halloo is the one who broke the real rule!”

“What rule?” demanded Halloo, growing angry.

“The other sign!” squeaked Choon Choon. “The one that says, ‘No Weight Over 500 kg.’ We all know Halloo weighs more than that! He broke the rule just by stepping on it!”

Now the King was confused. He turned to his clever minister, Chatur the Fox. “Minister, can you make sense of this?”

Chatur stepped forward and bowed. “Your Majesty,” he began smoothly, “the situation is simpler than it appears. Technically, both are innocent of breaking the signs.”

The animals gasped.

“How?” asked the King.

“Well,” said Chatur, “the ‘one at a time’ rule has an exception for tiny creatures like Choon Choon, so he is innocent. And the ‘500 kg’ rule was meant for carrying extra weight. Halloo wasn't carrying anything, so he is also innocent of that.”

Halloo and Choon Choon looked relieved.

“Then who is the culprit?” roared the King.

“They both are,” said Chatur with a sly smile.

Now everyone was scratching their heads. “How?!” they all chattered.

Chatur’s voice dropped. “Because, Your Majesty, they weren't just crossing the bridge. They were playing a silly game. Choon Choon started it by tossing a small pebble at Halloo to be funny.”

Choon Choon’s ears turned pink, and he stared at his paws in shame.

“And Halloo,” Chatur continued, looking at the elephant, “in order to tease Choon Choon back, began to stomp his feet—thump, THUMP, THUMP!—to make the bridge wobble. He thought it was great fun to see the little rat get scared. But the old bridge couldn’t handle the stomping, and... CRACK! It collapsed.”

Now it was Halloo’s turn to look down, his trunk drooping with guilt. They both knew the truth.

“We are sorry, Your Majesty,” they said together. “The Minister is right. Our mischief broke the bridge.”

King Sher Singh looked at them sternly. “A little fun is fine,” he said. “But you must always be aware that a small, thoughtless action can have big, messy results.”

He then ordered Halloo to use his strength to gather wood for a new bridge, and tasked Choon Choon with guarding it every day to make sure no one else used it for silly games.

Moral

Mischief can be fun, but not when it's careless. Think about the consequences before you act.