The Sunshower Song

Vinayak Varma

"Tell me again
about your wedding," the young jackal said to his mother.
"Tell me
about the music of the forest, about the sun-rain and the songbirds."

"I remember that
morning well, my cub.
Your father and I stood in the clearing at the forest’s
heart,
praying for the weather to turn. The sky was striped in gold,
black and
silver-blue. The air was cool and wet.
Our guests were on their way, bearing
many gifts of sound ."

"The elephants,
with their big ears, were the first to hear of our wedding.
They shook the
whole forest as they thundered their way to the clearing."

"They thumped the
earth with their giant feet, and honked and wailed with their trunks:
BOOOM-BOOOM-BOOOM-HWAAAAARRNN!
BOOOM-BOOOM-BOOOM-HWAAAAAAAAARRNNN! "

"All
that noise awoke the monkeys, who started jumping up and down, making the tree
branches creak and the leaves rustle :
SHICKI-SHICKI-SHICKI-KRAKK! SHICKI-SHACKI-SHICKI-HYYYEEEHHH! "

“This, in turn,
startled the woodpeckers and squirrels out of their nests. They began tapping
and chewing nervously on the tree trunks: TATTARA-TATTARA-TATTARA-TATTA-TA!
CHHH-CHHH-CHRRRRR-CHHHRRRRR! CHHH-CHHH-CHRRRRR-CHHHRRRRR! "

"And
the other birds?"
"Not just yet."

"The next to arrive
was Grand-Uncle Bear, with his hollow whistling stick.
When he swung it in the
air, it went: TEE-DEE-DOO-DEE-DEE! TOO-DAH-DEE-DAH-DEE-DEE! "
"Hahaha.
I love Grand-Uncle Bear! And who came now? The singing birds?"

"No, the birds were still flying in from
the mountains. Now came the deer, with reeds tangled around their antlers. When
they stuck their antlers into the flower bushes, thorns plucked at the reeds
and made a strange sound: TWANG-TWANG-TOIIING! TOIIING-TWANG-TONNNG! "

"And that,"
she said, "was when the birds arrived."
"At
last!"

"Black birds,
blue birds, red birds and yellow. Big birds and small.
They swooped, flitted
and fluttered around us, showering us with feathers.
And they sang! Oh,
how they sang! "

"They sang the song of
the rushing wind, the song of sunlight at dawn, and the song of rain. Then they
sang all their songs at once, weaving and pressing them,
one into the other,
until it was a single cold-hot melody."

"THE SUNSHOWER SONG!"
"Yes, my youngling."

"When the birds
stopped singing, the crickets, grasshoppers and cicadas
sprang up from the mud,
clapping and sighing and screaming :
RRRRRRRRRR-KEEEEE-TRRRRRRRRRRRR-FFFFFRRRRRRR-KEEEEEE-RRRRRRR! "

“The frogs
and toads hopped about and tumbled over one another, roaring in approval:
KAI-KAI-GWA-GWA-GWA! KAI-KAI-KAI-GWA-GWA!
They all knew what the song meant
— the first
summer rain was coming."

"Not a
few breaths had passed since the song's last note,
and the sky rumbled ,
groaned , and the showers began.
When the sunlight streamed through the
raindrops,
they turned into rays of striking colour
that arced across and above
us."
"Oof!"

"And
that was how your father and I were married."

"Will
the birds come for me too, mother?
Will it sun-rain at my wedding?
Will colours
fill the sky?"

"We
will soon find out, my cub," said the old jackal.
"Come, let's go
outside. Your first guests must be arriving."