I had bought two exquisitely made toy birds for my grand-son Seniru to
play with. One day there was an empty birds nest fallen on the ground in
our garden. My grand-son who is five years old picked up the fallen
down nest, placed it on an empty flower pot and placed the toy birds on
the nest. I took this picture at that time.
A few days later he came and showed me what looked like a small egg and said that the birds had laid an egg. The eggs were pearly white, spherical and were about half a centimeter in diameter. He said that he wanted to boil them and eat them. Now I was getting worried. My elder daughter Queenie, the mother of Seniru obliged him. She put the egg into a cup and poured some boiling water inside the cup and then put the tiny egg into it, while Seniru kept watch from a distance. After a few minutes she took out the ‘egg’ using a spoon and gave it to him to eat. Seniru showed the boiled egg to me and ate it with relish. I was getting really worried. Then my daughter whispered to me that the ‘egg’ was an unripe small ‘jumbo’ (rose-apple) fruit from our garden. My daughter had placed the ‘egg’ in the nest earlier. Now I joined the game and placed ‘eggs’ for Seniru to discover. He was thrilled every time that he found an ‘egg’ in the nest. We used to learn the lesson of birds laying eggs from the poultry we had at home. Now there are no poultry kept at home, at least in my residence. I think the children are learning the lesson in another way using artificial props. One of the things that is absent is the early morning crowing of a cock which was constant in my childhood. Now I am put up by the whistling song of the black robin around 5am every day. The other birds give song a little later to add to the ‘dawn chorus’. There are no cock birds in my neighborhood to announce the dawn. I was wondering whether Seniru might play the same tricks on me when 'Seeya and Aachchi' get older.
Please click on the web-link below:-
https://www.facebook.com/philip.veerasingam/posts/2682335025112101
A few days later he came and showed me what looked like a small egg and said that the birds had laid an egg. The eggs were pearly white, spherical and were about half a centimeter in diameter. He said that he wanted to boil them and eat them. Now I was getting worried. My elder daughter Queenie, the mother of Seniru obliged him. She put the egg into a cup and poured some boiling water inside the cup and then put the tiny egg into it, while Seniru kept watch from a distance. After a few minutes she took out the ‘egg’ using a spoon and gave it to him to eat. Seniru showed the boiled egg to me and ate it with relish. I was getting really worried. Then my daughter whispered to me that the ‘egg’ was an unripe small ‘jumbo’ (rose-apple) fruit from our garden. My daughter had placed the ‘egg’ in the nest earlier. Now I joined the game and placed ‘eggs’ for Seniru to discover. He was thrilled every time that he found an ‘egg’ in the nest. We used to learn the lesson of birds laying eggs from the poultry we had at home. Now there are no poultry kept at home, at least in my residence. I think the children are learning the lesson in another way using artificial props. One of the things that is absent is the early morning crowing of a cock which was constant in my childhood. Now I am put up by the whistling song of the black robin around 5am every day. The other birds give song a little later to add to the ‘dawn chorus’. There are no cock birds in my neighborhood to announce the dawn. I was wondering whether Seniru might play the same tricks on me when 'Seeya and Aachchi' get older.
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| Toy birds arranged in an abandoned birds nest |
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| Unripe Jambu fruits |
Please click on the web-link below:-
https://www.facebook.com/philip.veerasingam/posts/2682335025112101
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