In a small village there lived more than 6 families and each hut in the village consisted of 5 members. Niko’s family was one among them, consisting of Niko’s mother, father and his 2 younger brothers. Niko’s mother always scolded him due to the fact that he does not have a proper job for his earning. Each passing day she taunted him on this.
So one day Niko decided to go to the nearby village to seek a job. His mother gave him his favorite breakfast and Niko requested his mother to prepare some lunch and pack it for him. After preparing the lunch, she thought that she had forgotten his favorite chutney. So she started to make them with few pieces of coconut in the grinder, after giving it a blitz she opened it again to add a bit of spices. While adding those she pushed a pack of rat poison which was opened by mistake. She did not notice it and packed it for Niko with the rest of food which she had prepared. Niko started out for seeking job and promised his mom saying” mom definitely I will return with good news”.
On reaching the village he asked for job in many places but he got the answer “No, No” from all places. Feeling disappointed he sat under a tree to take some rest. He started feeling hungry so he opened his lunch box. At that time he was reminded of his mother’s words to wash his hands before eating. Niko went in search of water and found a herd of elephant’s drinking water and realized that there is a pool nearby.
After washing his hands and refreshing himself he returned back to the tree. There he found that an elephant has finished his entire lunch. Niko found his lunch box empty. He got angry on the elephant. He bad mouthed it and also kicked and punched it once. At once the elephant fell down dead due to the rat poison that was mixed in the food.
The owner of the elephants saw this and informed about it to the king. They did not realize that the elephant had died due to rat poison instead they concluded thinking that it had died due to Niko punches and kicks. The king was extremely surprised and ordered the soldiers to bring him to his lunch table. Niko was surprised yet he felt happy and excited because he got an opportunity to eat rich and different dishes. He enjoyed his food. After a few minutes the king said “Niko Niko here after you will be the leader for all the soldiers because you are are extremely powerful. Your first duty will be, to kill the dangerous crocodile which eats the human beings and gives much trouble to the village people”. Niko agreed and said “Ok Lord, I will”.
The next morning after his breakfast, he took a big and shining sword and a beautiful white horse and started to kill the crocodile. He went and stood on the bank of the lake and called out for the crocodile. The crocodile came to the surface of the water. Niko was very afraid and he jumped inside the water, while he jumped inside the crocodile jumped out to eat him. At that moment he took his sword out and lifted it high in the air and when the crocodile jumped again inside the water it did not notice the sword and fell on its sharp ends meeting its ultimate death.
Everyone was happy and believed that it was killed by the power of Niko and made Niko the permanent leader of the village. Niko did not realize that it was the rat poison which was his secret of success.

G.Dharshini
VII std
The Vikasa School, Tuticorin