I am no longer prey. I suppose I should be happy, shouldn’t I? But, unfortunately, I am not. You must be surprised to hear this, right? The reality is, when there are no more hunters in the forest, a deer like me should feel safer, freer. At first, I was very happy not to see the tiger my favorite hunter, who once ruled the forest. But inside, there is a deeper story. The forest is no longer ruled by the tiger; now “it is controlled by the forest department”.
Let me take you back to the beginning. When there were no hunters, we deer and rabbits danced with joy, as if we could fly through the forest without fear. But as days passed, the joy faded into boredom. Then boredom turned into fear. We wondered, if the tiger was gone, what if some other animal came to take his place? Would it be even more dangerous? For a while, this fear was just a thought, because except for a few humans, no one came to hunt us.
Gradually, our numbers increased rapidly. At first, we were happy. We thought, with more of us, we could stand stronger against any enemy. But slowly, we realized that the real enemy was within us, our own growing numbers. We began to fight each other for space and food. The green grass started to disappear, unable to meet our growing demand. Some of us ventured near farms in search of food. When the farmers noticed us, they poisoned their fields, and the forest department started controlled fires. Our situation worsened day by day.
I often remember the earlier days when the majestic tiger came to hunt us. We would run away at the sight of him, but sometimes he caught one of us. Yet, it was different then. He did not kill us all. His presence was a warning, a balance. Some of us were even his admirers, fascinated by the way he entered the forest like a king stepping into his royal court. But now, the king is gone. The tigers have vanished, hunted away by humans. The last of them has disappeared from the earth.
We deer are saddened by these changes. We know the same fate awaits us too.
The tiger was the king of the forest, and we were his prey. We prayed for his return, longing for him to hunt us, to keep the forest in balance. Today, we are ready to line up for him, to be his food once again. We love him.