Once upon a time in Manipur, a mother sparrow lived with her baby sparrow in a cozy nest on a rooftop. One day a crow came near their nest and said, “Hey, Mother Sparrow! Give me your baby, and I’ll eat it.” He was a notorious crow in the neighbourhood, known for his predatory nature. Everyone was scared of him, but none had the guts or wits to stop him.

Unnerved, gathering her wits, the mother sparrow smiled and said, “Well, you have to do one task for me.”

The crow shouted back, “Why do I have to do that?”

The Mother Sparrow politely replied, “Then only I’ll give you my baby.”

The crow was surprised and said, “Alright. So what is the task?”

The mother sparrow said, “There is a blacksmith who needs a pet bird to send his business messages.”

On hearing this, the crow asked, “Where is that blacksmith?”

“Across the mountain”, the mother sparrow said, “you will find the blacksmith and his wife. Once you’ve completed your tasks, return here. I’ll gladly give you my baby.”

The crow flew away full of tasty hopes. After a few days, he found the blacksmith. There he approached him and said, “Master, I’m your pet bird. I shall perform any task you give me.”

The blacksmith was overjoyed and said, “At last, I’ve found a pet crow. The tasks are simple. You only need to deliver my business messages and run errands for my wife. Over and above, you’ve to fan the charcoal fire because I cannot afford bellows or rotary fan blowers to make the irons hot.” He added happily, “Dear fellow, I shall name you Amuba*.” And thus, the crow found his master in the blacksmith. To him the task looked simple and his eagerness to eat the baby sparrow made it simpler. He was loyal but soon discovered that the blacksmith was a hard taskmaster.

Every day, the crow had to take messages for his master and run errands like fetching water and buying vegetables for his master’s wife. His most irritating and tiresome task was flapping his wings like fans to make the charcoal fire hotter. However, this was nothing compared to the sound of the blacksmith banging his hammer on the anvil. It was so annoying. Amuba could always hear ringing sounds in his ears even after the blacksmith has stopped hammering. It irritated him so much that the poor bird could hardly sleep. It affected him so much that he could scarcely take food. As time went by, there came a moment when the poor crow could not stand the sight of the blacksmith. Whenever his master approached him, he had a panic attack. In addition to getting weak due to tiresome tasks, Amuba was slowly also becoming deaf because of the banging noise of the hammer.

Like this, one year passed away. Now the crow realized that the Mother Sparrow had utterly fooled him. He decided to fly away from his master to take revenge upon the sparrows. One fine day, Amuba mustered up all his strength, flew up in the air, and hoarsely shouted, “I am tired of you, Mr. Blacksmith! Now, I am flying away to take my revenge!” Thus, he flew away.

By this time, the baby sparrow had fully grown up, strong and wise. So when the weak Amuba approached them, the sparrows merrily flew away to a safe distance. In his pathetic condition, Amuba could not chase them. As the sparrows fled, the Mother Sparrow shouted, “O Mr. Crow, your master misses you! Go back to him.”

Amuba could not hear the remarks as he was deaf. But he swore to himself, “One day, I’ll eat you both. One day!”

*Amuba means “Blackie” in Manipuri