The crane’s contact lenses!

Is this true? Yes it is! Whooping Cranes are the tallest of all birds in North America. They frequent marshes, lagoons and shallow lakes. They feed on fishes, frogs, shellfish and small insects. At birth, their eyes are blue, which change to aquamarine or a sea-green shade as they grow older, and after six months, when they become adults, their eyes turn golden or yellow in colour. Whooping Cranes are an endangered species, and efforts are on by researchers and environmentalists to restore their population.

Duckie was an adorable little duckling and all the ducks in her pond felt she was the cutest little duckling they had ever seen in that region, much to the gratification of her proud parents. Duckie wasn’t proud, but she was quite pleased by all the admiration she got. She had beautiful, soft yellow feathers, and innocent blue eyes, and a tiny, soft, pink bill. She often wondered how beautiful she would look when she grew up. And just as she was pretty, she was sweet-tempered- and so, was sweetly asking the new foreign kid in her pond if they could be friends.

“Uh… yes, I think so”, said the foreign baby bird a little awkwardly. “But we are so different… I am a whooping crane and you’re a duck.” That was quite true. The baby whooping crane, whose name was Goldie, looked nothing like Duckie. She was a dirty brown all over, with a pointed beak that seemed just a wee bit large for her face. Her gait was awkward, and she didn’t really have proper feathers yet.

Her family was visiting the marshy meadows on the other side of the hill, and she had wandered over to the duck pond. “But both you and I have blue eyes”, said Duckie happily. “That’s something we have in common!” “Same pinch”, cried Goldie, laughing, and the two were soon having fun together. After a while, Goldie heard the cries of the other Cranes. “I think I have to leave now”, she said. “But I’ll come again soon!” she promised, and she left.

Three months passed. Duckie has grown, but no longer looked as cute as she did when she was a baby. She was neither yellow nor white, and was at an awkward stage- almost like a teenager. She wasn’t very comfortable with her looks, and her parents consoled her saying it was a passing phase. And that was when Goldie came to visit her again.

Goldie was still brown, but had grown quite tall. Both chatted for some time, and played a bit, and that was when Duckie noticed something different about Goldie. Goldie’s eyes were no longer blue in colour. They looked greenish- an aquamarine colour. Duckie was puzzled. Before she could ask Goldie anything about it, it was time for her to go, and she flew away. After Goldie left, Duckie pondered over her eye colour. How could the Crane’s eyes become aquamarine when they had been blue in the beginning?

Three more months passed by, and Duckie was a fully grown duck now. She was now beautiful once again, and had a beautiful white coat of feathers and a yellow beak, but the same blue eyes. One day, as she was looking at her reflection in the water and preening herself, she heard a flap of wings behind her. “Surprise!” cried a voice, and Duckie turned around to find a really, really tall bird, the tallest she had ever seen, with a pure white coat of feathers, a red crown and black wing tips. It was beautiful- glamourous, even.

It took a moment for Duckie to recognize her visitor. “Goldie!” she cried, and hugged the Whooping crane. Both were thrilled to see each other, and had a wonderful time together. In the midst of all the fun, Duckie keenly observed Goldie’s eyes. She was shocked to find that Goldie’s eyes were now no longer blue or aquamarine in colour. They were, instead, gold in colour!!

Duckie didn’t know how to ask Goldie about it. All throughout the conversation, she found herself drawing comparisons with Goldie. She was plump and chubby, and looked quite plain while Goldie was slim, tall, and seemed the type who would be on the cover page of a Fashion magazine (if there were any such magazine in the animal world). Even after Goldie left, she could think of nothing but Goldie’s amazing transformation from an ugly kid to a ravishing beauty, while she herself seemed as ordinary as the rest of her flock.

She was especially jealous of Goldie’s changing eye colour, and wondered how she managed it. Duckie was depressed. She was no longer sweet-tempered, and swam about morosely the whole day. One day, she could no longer hold in her misery, and spoke to her friend, the Frog, about it. The frog heard the story, thought deeply for a while, and spoke. “I’ve heard of something that the humans use for changing their eye colour- they call it contact lenses. Do you think Goldie has got hold of those?”

Duckie wondered if that was true. “Then I can change my eye colour too, and look at least a little bit as glamourous as Goldie?” said Duckie eagerly. “Maybe you can”, replied the frog, “But how are you going to get hold of such a thing?” This made Duckie morose again.

“You just want to look different from your flock, don’t you? Forget your pride and ask Goldie herself when she comes next time”, saying this, the frog hopped off. Duckie thought of this suggestion. She realised she could never look entirely like Goldie. After all, she was just a duck- she could never grow as tall as a Whooping Crane! But it didn’t seem a bad idea to try out the contact lenses.

So the next time Goldie came to visit her, Duckie asked, “Goldie, could you … erm… please… tell me… where you get your contact lenses?” Goldie gave Duckie a blank look. “What contact lenses?” she asked. “Well, the ones you wear, to change your eye colour from blue to aquamarine to gold”, said Duckie.

Goldie looked even more puzzled. And then, all of a sudden she burst out laughing! “Don’t laugh!” said Duckie angrily, “Tell me if you can, it’s fine if you can’t”, she pouted. “Oh, Duckie”, said Goldie still roaring with laughter, “Who told you I wear contact lenses? That’s how we Whooping cranes are! We are born with blue eyes, which change to aquamarine after a few months. When we are full- grown adults, are eyes turn gold in colour!”

Duckie was dumb-struck at first. And then she started laughing too. “How stupid I am!”she said, and the two friends laughed for a long time. Duckie was never jealous of Goldie again.

By:SNEHA VERGHESE