Vedantic Tales : The Discipleship
        of Ajay : The Osprey

What say? the kite asked.

I said "It's not me."

The kite cocked his head at him. Of course it's not you, silly.

I mean...

But the kite flew off without waiting to hear what Ajay meant.

He felt the joy rising within him, his depression falling away. He rose from the branch into the sky and headed northwest, forgetting that he had been going to see his parents. He flew back across the plains, crossing over village after village, and as his elation rose he now and then performed some loops and cartwheels for the sheer rapture of it. On one of these occasions, he glanced down and saw that he was over a small village of mud huts and trees, and he noticed that a number of villagers stood watching him with delight in their upturned faces. Without giving it much thought he entered into a prolonged exhibition, performing his best aerial acrobatics, losing himself in the beauty and ease of his art. And when he had finished he knew that his own joy and the joy of the villagers as they watched him was one and the same. He felt light, as though chunks of lead had dropped from his heart.

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