Once upon a time there was a group of woodpeckers, living in a jungle. They had built their homes in the trunks of trees and were living there happily with their families. They loved their babies and took great care of them.
One day, armed with axes, several woodcutters came to the jungle and started cutting down the trees.
Very soon, all the woodpeckers gathered around, shouting and crying. One woodpecker shouted aloud: “Stop! Please stop! Why are you cutting down these trees?”
The woodcutters replied, “We need wood to build our houses.”
“But, we have already built our houses in these trees,” came the reply from an old woodpecker.
The woodpecker continued, “If you want to build your houses, and then please do it with bricks and stones. Why are you destroying our houses? Let us all live peacefully, please!”
The woodcutters snapped back rudely, “We don’t care! We will build our houses with wood. And, you can’t stop us!
The woodcutters, then, continued felling the trees. In no time, all the trees were razed to the ground and the woodpeckers rendered homeless. The woodcutters carried the logs with them, and built their homes.
The woodpeckers were very angry with the woodcutters, and wanted to take revenge.
One day, the oldest woodpecker called a meeting and said, “If they have axes, we too have our beaks. We will destroy their houses. If they have made us homeless, we, too, will render them homeless.”
The next day, the woodpeckers started attacking the woodcutters’ houses, pecking away at the wood. All the woodcutters gathered and started shouting, – Stop! Please stop! Why are you destroying our houses? Where will our babies stay without these houses?”
But, the woodpeckers did not relent. Each day they would peck away more and more of the wood. Within a few days, the woodcutters’ houses were razed to the ground, and they were rendered homeless.
THE MORAL
Tit for tat! Give a fitting reply to injustice.