The Life and Adventures of Naushati Lal- 1.1 Beauty and The Beast

“Amma, am I not beautiful?” Naushati Lal would often ask.
“Yes, you are.”
“As beautiful as Kichlu is?” he asked.
“You are the most beautiful my son.”
Naushati Lal looked at Kichlu. Then he took Kichlu in his lap. “No, Kichlu is the most beautiful. I am next to him. Am I right Kichlu?”

When Naushati Lal turned three, he met his first friend- a piglet. It was a birthday present. He named him ‘Kichlu’. The two became best friends. Neither could live without the other. Naushati Lal found himself in Kichlu. “We are very much alike,” he would say, “He is the most beautiful and I am the second.”
“But Naushati, the pig has a tail and you do not.” Naushati would think and reply, “That’s why Kichlu is more beautiful.”

One night a squeal woke up Naushati Lal. He opened his eyes and did not see anything but a pair of amber eyes. He heard the squeal again. There stood a jackal hardly five hands from Naushati with Kichlu in his jaws. One thing that Naushati did not know was fear and the poor hunter was not aware of this ignorance. Naushati gave a loud cry and pounced on the jackal. In a moment he was lying over the poor canine pumping fists into his belly and had already broken some of his bones. He stopped when he heard Kichlu squealing again. As soon as he moved towards Kichlu, the jackal limped itself out in the dark. Kichlu kept squealing for rest of the night, Naushati Lal kept crying and the poor jackal kept howling.

Next morning Kichlu was gone.