A Mother’s Love (The Story of Two Crows)
Copyright © Anike Foundation
Once upon a time, there lived two families of black crows. One crow was an older black crow and the other was a younger black crow with a white chest. The older black crow did not have any children while the black and white one did.
Every morning, the older crow would watch as the young mother sang beautiful songs to its infants on a tree next to them.
After a while, she started to feel jealous because all the babies she had died.
She also wondered why she did not have a white patch on her chest like the younger crow. Every night, she would complain angrily to the gods, “Why is it that every time I have my own children, they end up dying while hers live? You gave the other crow everything. I don’t even have a decorated chest like hers!”
The more she complained, the angrier she got. So, one day she decided to start a friendship with the younger crow. She wanted to make sure the young mother trusted her before she proceeded with her plan.
Every day, she would visit the nest where the infants were and gave them seeds and nuts to eat. After a while the little crows began to get used to this new visitor.
One day, as the mother crow was headed out to fetch food for the children, she asked if the older crow would watch over the baby crows. Upon hearing this, the older crow was glad and smiled mischievously, “Yes, of course! I will keep your children safe, take all the time in the world!” The young mother crow flew away leaving her children behind.
While she was gone the older crow turned her eyes to the baby crows and looked for the one with the white patch on her chest similar to her mothers. “Yes, this is the one I want,” said the crow. She quickly lifted the baby out of its nest and flew away, leaving the other baby crows afraid and crying for their mother.
While the young mother crow was flying, she felt a sharp pain on her chest and knew something was wrong. Suddenly she could hear the sounds of her baby crows crying out for help.
She quickly flew back only to find that the youngest of her babies was missing. The mother wept bitterly as she looked for her child.
She went from tree to tree and asked if anyone had seen her baby, but all the other crows said no. She continued her search far and near but did not find her baby.
After a week of non stop searching she found a nest on top of a large tree away from the other crows. Inside the nest she saw her baby.
Before she could do anything, the older crow appeared. “What are you doing here?” She asked.
“I trusted you with my babies and you stole one of them. Please return her to me!” the young crow replied.
The older crow looked at her with surprise, and said “This is not your baby. This is my baby. I gave birth to her a few weeks ago.”
When the other crows heard the two of them arguing they came over to see what was wrong. After listening to both of them, they said, “the only way we can prove whose baby this is is by determining the love you both have for it.”
The other crows brought two giant leaves and put them in front of both crows. “The one who can cry the most tears and make this leaf wet will be the one who gets the baby.” The older crow was upset and said, “No, this does not determine anything. I do not need to cry to prove that this is my baby.” The other crows replied “Yes, you do. These tears will show us whether you really love your child.” With no choice left, the older crow reluctantly agreed and asked if she could go first. She first started by looking at the baby crow and squinting very hard, but nothing came out. She then tried blinking many times, but nothing came out. She then sang mourning songs and thought of sad memories, but nothing came out. She even tried to use the wind’s force by opening her eyes wide enough, but nothing came out.
After a few minutes of nothing, the other crows gave the young mother her chance. The young mother went next to the nest, looked at her child and started singing a song: “Dear beautiful child, this is your mother. I am here crying for you because I love you.”
As soon as she started singing, tears flooded down her face and washed the leaf away.
The other crows were astonished at her sadness and quickly ordered the older crow to return the child to its mother. The older crow returned the child and said, “Maybe this is why all my children die! I have been too busy giving attention to other children and neglecting my own. And even when I stole this beautiful child, I did not feel the same love for her as a mother should.”
After this day, the older crow was able to have her own child
and she loved it with all her heart.