It was a fine day for grubs thought Peacock, as he lowered his beak for the millionth time that morning. Indra, god  of rain and thunderstorms had      

passed overhead during the night drenching the forest in a great thunder shower and now, in the warmth of the morning sun, newly hatched grubs were emerging from leaf and root. It was an easy  breakfast feast for a peacock and he was very grateful. Such treats didn’t often come his way; for in those days he was so plain and insignificant that it was easy to overlook him.

He reached into the soft ground to spear a nice fat grub when suddenly he froze quite still. The very ground beneath  his feet seemed to be trembling. As if in reply the sky above suddenly turned black, only to be torn apart by great flashes of silver lightning.

From all around came a deep rumbling and roaring as Indra, god of rain and thunder, battled against Ravana, the   demon king. And the battle was coming closer… and closer…

There through the trees came Indra!   He was running! Running and looking for somewhere to hide!

 Indra was close by now; in fact he was so close that if peacock didn’t move he was in danger of being trodden on. His plain brown feathers hid him so perfectly on the forest path that Indra hadn’t seen him!

Peacock looked down at the earth and remembered the taste of his great juicy grub breakfast “And if I don’t do  something quick to help Indra, that will be the end of my grub feasts.” he said to himself.

Peacock took a deep breath and spread out his great tail feathers. Indra caught sight of the secret wall of feathers and  crouched down behind it. Only just in time!

 Through the trees came Ravana!

 Ravana, who had ten heads!

 Ravana, who had twenty arms!!

 Ravana, whom the gods could not destroy!!!

 Poor Peacock wanted to shake. He wanted to tremble, but he stood quite still without fluttering a feather so that Ravana passed by hardly noticing such a plain bird.

 Then stillness descended on the forest and high above, the sky lightened into a brilliant blue and when Indra emerged  from his hiding place he reached up a hand into its azure light. Suddenly a shower of iridescent feathers shimmered     down covering the plain bird. Then Indra gently ran his fingers along Peacock’s tail so that it shone and glimmered  with eyes of fire. Indra smiled a brief smile of approval and delight and was gone.

 But Indra was as wise as he was generous. As a gentle reminder that his plumage was a gift from a rain god, Peacock   soon found, that despite his wonderful feathers, his feet were as wrinkled as if he had spent the night standing out in the rain whilst his harsh cry would warn of an approaching storm.