Dash the crow had recently learned how to fly. He zoomed from one branch of the tree to another. He sat on an electric pole. He peered through the house windows. He noticed that humans fed chillies to green parrots. They fed grains to white doves.
Dash realized he too was hungry. “Caw, caw,” he called, hoping someone would give him food as well. But nobody took note of him. Dash eyed the doves with jealousy.
“It’s better to be a dove than a crow,” he thought.
He noticed that someone had left a bucket full of white paint out in the open. Dash had an idea. He jumped into the bucket of paint! Workers came to shoo him away, and he flew out in a hurry. But his job was done. He was now as white as a dove.
He flew toward the doves and settled down next to them. He too pecked at the grain. None of the doves complained. No one noticed that he was in fact a crow! Dash was so happy he cawed loudly, “Caw… Caw.”
Immediately the doves knew that this bird was a crow. They started cooing loudly. Poor Dash flew away. “I never knew doves could be so wild,” Dash thought.
Then he saw a flock of crows. “Ah, friends!” he shouted, as he flew towards them.
The crows were startled to see a white bird flying towards them. They though it was a white dove, which was up to some mischief. They all flew away, leaving Dash far behind.
Dash was sad. To add to his problems, it started raining. Dash rushed to find shelter. Then he noticed that the rain was washing the paint away. He was black once again! Dash had never felt so happy. He joyfully joined his crow friends cawing loudly, proud of his black colour.
