The Peacock of the Tea Hills

High in the misty tea hills lived a girl called Malini. Every morning she walked with her amma between the rows of bright green tea bushes. And every morning she heard a strange call: “May-awe! May-awe!” One day she followed the call to the edge of the forest. There stood a peacock, blue as the sky after rain. But his tail was folded tight, and he looked very sad. “I am Mayura,” he said. “Tonight is the Dance of the Hills, but I am too shy to open my tail.” “Why?” asked Malini. “What if the other birds laugh at me?” he whispered.