Lorika

In a tiny village, in a tropical forest on a beautiful island of the Indian Ocean, there lived a doctor called George Kiral with his beloved wife, and eight-year-old son, Peti. They arrived at “Wonder Forest” – as the little boy called it – from Hungary in the previous year. Very special, even unbelievable things happened to them here in this wondrous place. They met some interesting animals, had to cope with extraordinary situations, and took part in unforgettable adventures.

The doctor moved here with his family to help to cure ill people. At that time, he had no idea how great influence a weekend’s visit to the capital of Sumba’s island would have on their lives . . .

Nangamessi, the capital, was an exciting town with its own special charm, which put the tourists under its spell. Doctor Kiral wanted his son to get to know this place. For Peti, the most wonderful at­traction in the town was its marketplace with its col­ourful atmosphere, with the scent of spices in the air, and so much to see that it was overwhelming. On that day, however, something happened that

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changed his life forever: he caught the glimpse of a beautiful bird sitting in a giant cage by one of the bird breeders.

“Dad, Dad, look at that! What a cute birdie! Please, come and let’s have a look at it!” Peti asked his father.

“All right, but we must go then. Mum must al­ready be worried. It is very late now, and I promised we would be home by dinnertime,” replied his fa­ther.

As they got closer, Peti got completely enchanted by the wonderful bird. He has never seen such an interesting animal. Its snow-white feathers on its wings looked as if they were decorated with yellow paint. The only thing nicer than the colourful crest were the small orange patches on its cheeks, which made the bird seem to blush all the time. It was an exceptionally beautiful parrot, belonging to the fam­ily of cockatoos. It represented a subspecies of yel­low-crested cockatoo called citron-crested cocka­too. Peti loved the bird immediately, though at that time he had no idea how rich inner qualities that magnificent appearance was hiding. These birds are considered very talented speech and voice imitators, sort of clowns, because they can entertain their

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owners with spectacular performances. They can perform somersaults, can dance and sing, and some can even learn to ride the bicycle.

“Dad, what kind of bird is it?” Peti asked.

At that moment, the bird also noticed the little boy. And behold! It started to look at him with the same curiosity as if it had never seen such a beautiful creature.

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Sarah

(...)

“Grrrrrr! Waaaaa! Rrrrrrr!” they heard the painful but still frightening roar.

It was clear from up close that the prisoner of the trap wasn’t an adult animal. It must have been very young, almost like a cub. The Sumatran tiger is a magnificent animal. Its orange fur is decorated with thin black stripes (these tigers have the thinnest stripes), its cheeks and forehead are covered in snow-white fur, and white patches decorate his ears too. This animal is very muscular and at the same time its move is airy. This is the smallest subspecies of the tigers. They don’t simply walk rather move very elegantly. So this was an especially sad sight to see this little tiger in a trap. The orangutan felt very sorry for her and in a flash of a second he decided that he would help her.

“Hi, I am Lala,” he greeted the tiger. “Did you get stuck? Can’t you run away?” he asked from a safe distance. The little tiger was in such a pain that she couldn’t make out where the sounds came from. She started turning her head.

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“I am up in the tree!” shouted Lala, who felt a little braver now.

“Grrr! Waaah! I am Sarah. I can’t go away from here. Help me! Waaah! Grrr!” replied the predator.

“Then why are you roaring at me? Do you want me to run away?” Lala asked very smartly.

“My Mummy said that we are frightening, and this is our duty. Grrr.”

“She’s a hopeless case,” Lala thought and was smiling to himself that the little tiger wanted to seem frightening even in such a situation. He went back to his friends so that together they could decide how to help her.

“Where are you going now? Grrr! Don’t you dare leave me here!”

“I’ll bring help!” shouted Lala and with that he disappeared among the trees. He discussed the case with Lorika and the little bird translated it to Peti. They decided that they shouldn’t hesitate and all of them would go in the direction of the tiger’s voice. Lala was travelling on the branches, so he was ahead of them, showing the way. Lorika was travelling on Peti’s shoulders, but sometimes he flew up to get a better view. When they were very close, the roaring became louder. Then Lorika had an idea.

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“Lala, help Peti climb the tree. It is safer to walk there. Who knows how long this tiger hasn’t eaten anything. She may be angry of humans because they invented the traps.”

“You are right,” the monkey agreed, then he gave his hand to Peti, who recognized right away that it might be safer in the trees.

So they were climbing on the branches and Peti enjoyed the exercise. Not many children can say that they can have such an adventure: free a frightening predator from a trap and climb the trees together with an orangutan in the Sumatran jungle. Lala found Peti a skilful climber.

“He would make a talented monkey . . . what a pity that his arms are so short,” the orangutan thought.

When they reached the trapped animal, Lorika and Peti felt very sorry for her. She walked in that loop so unfortunately that she was unable to bite off the rope because it caught her front leg and she couldn’t reach it. When Peti saw this, he immedi­ately knew how they would set her free.

“Let’s talk to her. Lorika! Please translate,” he asked the bird.

But now the tiger noticed them and started to

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roar frighteningly.

“Grrr! GRRRRRR!”

“I am Lorika,” the cockatoo started, mustering all his courage.

“Grrr! I am Sarah. Raaah,” the little tiger cub replied.

“You are very frightening,” said Lorika, who thought that with a little bit of flattering he could ease the tension.

“Do you . . . do you . . . think so?” the amazed tiger asked. “My Mummy said that we are frighten­ing. Always. “Do you . . . do you . . . think so it worked?”

“Just look at them!” Lorika replied, pointing to frightened Peti and Lala who were clinging on the upper branch. Sarah got so amazed by her own suc­cess that she immediately forgot about all of her pains. It made her roar so loudly, that those two were instantly trembling. Lorika put an end to the performance. “Do you want us to set you free?” he asked.

“Of course, I do!” shouted the little prisoner, but then she got ashamed and continued more politely, “I would like to . . . very much . . . please . . . help me.”

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“But you won’t hurt us, right?” Lorika asked.

“No . . . I won’t . . . I promise . . . Anyway, I couldn’t as . . . I’m so . . . exhausted.”

Lorika translated all this to his friends and now they also ventured to get closer.

“This is our friend, Peti,” Lala introduced the little boy.

“But . . . he is a human!! Grrr!!! A human! People are our enemies!!” shouted the tiger.

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The Real Beauty

(...)

“What kind of animal is it, Lorika?”

“This is a gooolden caaat,” replied the cockatoo, flapping his wings.

“Why are you flapping? Why don’t you fly down, little Crested?” Peti asked, who was a little amused.

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“I am surprised that this human-brat doesn’t know me. He should know who I am. This island was named after me. It used to be called Golden Island before it became Sumatra. I am the golden cat. The major enemy of the tiger. I can even beat him. I can catch anyone. But don’t worry. I’ve already had lunch. Anyway, I’m only active at night. Even my name is special: my name is Lisa,” bragged the beautiful predator.

“What did it say?” Peti asked Lorika, who was greatly amused by this introduction, because he knew that the island wasn’t named after the golden cat.

“Sheee is coonceeeeited! Conceeeiteeed!” Lorika summed up not exactly word for word what the golden cat had said . . .

“Ask her why the tarsier is crying,” Peti asked reckoning that the golden cat’s hearing is much better than theirs.

Lorika thought the same and with a bit of flattering he said:

“Oh, you beautiful and big cat! Oh, you invincible! Oh, you cleverest, strongest, and most gorgeous golden cat! Please, tell us why the tarsier is crying. Please ask her name. Does she have a name?”

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These flattering words had their effect. The big cat’s heart was melted and she became very helpful.

“As I see cockatoo, you know what good manner is! Well, hear my answer: her name is Leila and she is crying because you got frightened of her. She thinks she is extremely ugly . . . which I find true.”

Lorika translated all this to his little owner, who felt just as sorry for the innocent creature as his monkey friends. Peti thought that the reason why only the cat was able to hear Leila might be that she was giving out ultrasound waves, and the cats are able to hear these very high sounds.

“We can’t leave her this sad. We have to help her. Since she is so kind and so lonely,” Peti advised and Lorika translated it for the others.

“Oh,” the golden cat was amazed. “I didn’t think that there was such a nice person like him among humans. He isn’t as beautiful as me, yet a very nice kid. He is still a kid, isn’t he?” he looked at Lorika, who nodded convincingly and smiled.

“Lorika, please, tell Leila that she isn’t ugly. On the contrary, she is beautiful,” Peti continued, alt-hough Lorika found it hard to say that because he found it untrue.

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