The Rumor

Deep in the Sahyadri mountains, there was a village called Baddbaddpur. The village was in the middlle of a green forest where there grew the most delicious fruits and vegetables. The people were prosperous and happy, but had nothing much to do most of the time, so they talked and gossiped and told tall tales. Some of the tales they told were so tall that if you put them one on top of the other, they would reach the stars.

In the same village there was an ill-tempered man called Pandurang. He was so grumpy that no one in the village had ever seen him smile. He was so dour that people said that milk turned into curd when he looked at it. He scowled at stories and snorted at jokes. People stayed away from him. No one ever went anywhere near his house and he was quite satisfied with this state of affairs.

Pandurang often went down to the town in the plains to sell the fruits that grew in his backyard. One day, as he was coming back from town, he had a sudden coughing fit. He coughed and coughed. Something seemed to be stuck in his throat. He coughed and coughed again, and spat out a feather