It was Din Din's birthday and his mother had arranged a party at the lakeside.
"It’s so nice of you to have arranged this party at the lake so that I and other aquatic friends can also attend," said Delma the dolphin to Din Din as she saw Din Din's dinosaur family put up the trestle tables for the party near the lake's bank.
"How could I have had a birthday without you, dear Delma," said Din Din. "I'm usually not very eager about celebrating birthdays as it makes me the centre of attention and that's something I don't like. But this year I am excited about my birthday party as I have so many friends to invite."
Soon, the flower buntings were hanging off the tree branches and Din Din's friends started to arrive laden with gifts. "Ooooh! Gifts!" exclaimed Delma. "I never knew birthdays meant gifts. I've never had a birthday or attended one myself," added Delma blushing with embarrassment.
Dazel the duck pecked her beak into her dolphin friend's smooth back, "It’s okay, Delma. I have a gift for Din Din and we both can give it to him," said Dazel kindly.
So when the birthday cake was cut and all of Din Din's friends crowded around him to give him birthday gifts, Dazel and Delma presented their dinosaur friend with a gift too.
The next day when Din Din met his best friends at the lake in the evening, he was all praise for the gift Dazel and Delma had given.
"A hatchet!!" exclaimed Din Din. "I've always wanted a good hatchet for cutting down the weeds and thorny wild shrubs in my garden. Thank you, Dazel and Delma.
"It was actually Dazel's gift," admitted Delma honestly. "I had forgotten to bring you one so we shared it."
"Oh, come on! It's the same thing, whether you give it or I!" said Dazel hugging her two best friends. "I had asked my friend the woodpecker to make it," explained Dazel. "I'm so glad you like it, Din Din."
The next day when Din Din went to his garden to water his flowers, he took his prized hatchet with him. The smooth and sharp-edged metal head of the hatchet cut the thickest of weeds effortlessly and left Din Din grinning.
"It gives me such a feeling of power and strength," said Din Din to his family as they sat together for dinner that night.
"A hatchet is a useful tool, Din Din but it is also a dangerous weapon," said his father solemnly.
"What do you mean?" asked Din Din with a touch of irritation, "I know how to use a hatchet, father." His father remained silent.
A few days later as Din Din worked in his garden a group of moles nudged their way into the garden.
"Oh no! Not the pesky moles again! Don't you upset my flower beds," cried Din Din in exasperation. He raised his hatchet to wave away the moles. The moles took one look at the glinting sharp metal of the hatchet and ran for their lives.
Din Din smiled to himself and he felt immensely powerful like he had never felt before. From that day he carried his hatchet around menacingly, everywhere he went.
"Why have you brought your hatchet with you again today?" asked Dazel one evening. "I like it, that's why!" replied Din Din.
"I have noticed that you carry it everywhere with you these days. Don't you think it’s dangerous?" said Delma.
"Not really," replied Din Din casually. "I think it makes me feel powerful," he added as he stroked the sharp edge of the hatchet.
"But we gave it to you so that it would help in your gardening, Din Din," said Dazel earnestly, "Not because you could scare other creatures with it."
But Din Din did not pay heed. One morning as Din Din was trudging towards his garden armed with his favourite hatchet, he met a group of hyenas.
"Uh oh! These hyenas are known for bullying dinosaurs," Din Din thought to himself as he saw them. But then he remembered that he was carrying his hatchet. He felt more confident as the group of hyenas approached him.
"Oh! See the fat dinosaur has a hatchet," said one of the hyenas smirking.
"Is that supposed to scare us?" another hyena said, laughing menacingly.
Din Din could sense his temper rising. "As a matter of fact, it is supposed to scare you." With that statement he waved the hatchet in the air. The hyenas laughed even more and began to dance around him.
Din Din became angrier. He swung the hatchet wildly in the air. Suddenly a blood-curling scream filled the air. Din Din stopped dead in his tracks. He could see blood on his hatchet. His hatchet had hit one of the hyenas in the legs and the deep wound was bleeding. The rest of the hyenas grabbed their injured companion and ran towards the deep jungle where they lived.
Din Din was in shock. He had never thought that his hatchet could harm someone's life. In a state of frenzy, he rushed to the pond where Dazel lived and explained what had happened.
"Oh I hope I haven't killed that hyena," Din Din wept. "Oh Dazel, I wish I had listened to you and not carried the hatchet everywhere."
Dazel tried to console him. "I'm sure you haven't harmed him fatally. Come, let us find out." And the two friends headed to the jungle where the pack of hyenas lived. As they neared the jungle they met one of the hyenas near the jungle's edge.
Din Din rushed up to him and inquired, "Is your friend okay? I didn't mean to hurt any of you. I was just using the hatchet to frighten you all."
"Yes, his wound has been patched up," answered the hyena. "He should be fine." Then a moment later the hyena said, "You should be worried about yourself. We hyenas don't forget such things. We will pay you back for what you did to our friend. You'd better look out, dinosaur." With those ominous words the hyena scampered off.