The children are able to test their understanding of the words and broaden categories that they have already learned. And as they endeavor to match language to the world around them, they take a closer look at the world they see.

The second half of the story is so different from the first as to make readers wonder whether it is another tale inadvertently appended to the first. Suddenly, the louse has physically and very magically shed her filthy ways, and the story becomes a fable about goodness. At first, that slimy, disgusting badness of her former self will not disappear. It slips from one place to another in the environment like some radioactive sewage, until finally, through an act of goodwill, the bad is transformed into good, and we leave the louse behind and watch the spread of goodness throughout the world.

There is another transformation going on here. Whereas the first part of the story seemed contemporary, albeit fantastic, the second half takes place at the creation of the world we know. We learn how swans became so white, why parakeets are so green, and how the cuckoo came to sing such a beautiful song.

We learn to pause and admire the whiteness of swansdown. We learn to marvel at a parakeet’s vivid green feathers. We learn to smile at the proud way a peacock opens up his majestic tail. This fable teaches us the importance of valuing the world we live in.

It takes the masterful strokes of a gifted storyteller like Vijay Dan Detha to create a picture of a world that is as despicable as it is compelling. The care and concern with which he imbues his tales are genuine, though not original with him. Very much part of tradition, “A Louse’s Blessing” is an authentic tale because the values it imparts maintain a strong link to the society that gave the tale shape.