The Bird and the Girl

There was once a tree where many birds lived. The birds on this tree were all very smart and very beautiful and very thoughtful. They were all  very good at flying and were very good at singing. It was perhaps their sweet songs which were the most lovely thing about the birds. Now, having said that, all the birds on the tree were also quite different from each despite having so much which was the same.
            For instance, there was one little bird who had a dark spot on the very top of her head which looked to others like a crown. And all who looked at her would say that she was the most beautiful of all, although they were all very beautiful. And there was another little bird who was  very clever. All that looked at him would say that he was the most clever of all, although it could be said that all the birds were very clever. And it went on like this. There was one which was more thoughtful than the others and once which was more pleasant. This was how all the birds living on the tree were, some were more one way and less the other.
            Among these birds living in the tree, there was one who was decidedly the bravest of them all. For he could fly faster than any of the others. The birds had often  liked to race each other and all especially liked to race against him. And not only would he gain the attention of the other birds, but also of  the squirrels and rabbits and of all the creatures who lived beside the little birds in the tree. And all who looked at the bird would say he was the fastest of them all. For this reason, he became very mighty and hardly anything scared him. He did not fear the rain storms which would come to pass. He did not fear the wolves or the foxes. Nor did he fear the rushing river which ran in the forest where their tree grew.
            While there were some which enjoyed singing the most and others which preferred building nests and raising young he found that he enjoyed flying the best out of any other thing. His favorite place to fly was to the highest branches of the trees. There, the  bird could see the view of all of the forest around him and it was there that he would feel the happiest of all and he did not wish to be any other place.
             However, one day,  something happened to him which frightened  him. One day a beastly creature had  entered the forest and he had come across it. He had done so unknowingly and had no time to react when he was in the presence of the creature. The creature was very strong, much stronger than the little bird  and he was fierce in a way the bird had never seen before. It did not take the creature much effort to overpower the bird and he did so quickly. Before the bird could do anything to stop it, the creature had put its mouth over the bird and  carried the bird away with him.
            He squirmed in the mouth of the creature and fought with all his strength to free himself. He gathered all the strength inside of him and all at once let it out to escape from the creature. Irritated, the creature released him, but he did not do so willingly. This brought great damage to the little bird. As he pulled away, so did the creature until at last he escaped and fell to the ground where he was free of its grasp. As he went to take flight he realized that one of his wings had become injured and although he tried with all his might he could not rise from the ground. His injured wing did not allow it and so he took shelter in an owl's burrow.
              This was a great shame to him because he felt that to hide was to be a coward. But the creature was much stronger than him and he felt that he could only conceal himself and wait for the creature to leave him. And the creature reached his paw far down into the burrow and the bird saw how sharp and great his claws were and he hid further in the burrow in the very back as far as he could go. In this place, he found that the creature could not reach him. But still, the creature tore away at the burrow where his paw could reach. This made the bird feel very afraid and he could scarcely breathe. He was so frightened.
              Some time later, the creature turned away from the burrow and moved on. With the owl gone, the bird found himself seemingly alone in the meadow. But still the nocturnal creatures stirred and he knew that he needed to find shelter. He hid under the uprooting of a tree and waited for the morning. His senses were so heightened he could scarcely sleep at all and only in the very late hours of the night did he fall into slumber. When he awoke in the morning his mind was clear and thoughtful.
          And how strange he felt to walk now and not fly. His movements were unbalanced and he now leaned onto one side more than the other. Also, he knew now that he was bound to the earth floor only, and this brought a wave of sadness upon him.
            He found that he did not have the desire to return home. Everything had unraveled and there was no use in trying to go back to the way of life he had known before. That way of life was surely over. No longer could the bird catch prey from up above, or from the river. No longer could he poach on the high up branches of the great trees. Now he was only able to eat the creeping insects and the tart berries of the leafy plants if the season allowed it. He did not know where he would go or what would become of him.
            He traveled further into the forest. As the days passed he grew weaker. He found that no matter the amount of worms and bugs he ate,  there was always hunger. He went and searched for berries but he could find none. He would see the mice dwelling in the grassy fields but they were all too fast for him and even the slowest among them would get away with ease. He was not meant to walk along on his talons and he failed at every attempt to catch prey. He realized then how much use he had once  had of his wings and this made him feel very sorry for himself.
            He dwelled deeper and deeper into the forest until he felt that he would reach the very end but still there were trees and greenery and he continued to travel further. All the while he grew more hungry and weak. He would often see birds passing from up above and he longed for the company of one. For no other birds dwelled the land like he did and so he found that he was apart from others of his kind and this brought him the worst sorrow of all.
            One day he looked before himself and saw that there was open land in front of him. This open land was like no other. For there were no trees, no foliage, or any dwelling animal. This was peculiar to the bird and so he entered the land with great caution.
            A strange feeling fell upon the bird and the deeper the bird went into the plain valley, the greater this feeling became. Soon the forest had disappeared behind him and he feared he would become lost for everything in this land looked the same and there was nothing for him to base his direction upon. He then wished to leave and return from where he came. A wave of despair fell upon him and he felt foolish for having entered the strange land at all.
            He stopped where he was and tried to calm himself. As he was resting he saw from afar something which was unlike anything he had come across in the forest or in any land he had ever been to. He only knew that the thing was not a creature, it was a thing which was unlike himself. The thing grew bigger as it approached him. As the thing came closer to him he grew fearful for it was very big and mighty and the bird knew he could not fight or outrun it.
            The thing approached the bird so quickly he did not yet think to flee, for the thing had already taken in the bird. The bird was then hit by the body of the thing so fiercely that he was left stunned and he could not move. And so the bird was swayed into one direction and then another as if he was in a strong current.
However, unlike a river whose body is made of water, the body of the thing was made of something as hard and cold as a stone and to be carried by it was painful. The  bird was thrown back and forth in the most unpleasant sort of way and he was nicked and pricked and his feathers were pulled and thrown against every moving piece of the body of the thing which clicked and turned mechanically. And the bird ached and ached until he felt that no other damage could be done for the whole of himself was hurt and throbbed with pain.
            And just as the bird thought he could not take it any longer,  he saw that a beam of light was coming in from the top of the thing and he knew that there must have been an opening where he could  leave the body of the thing. And despite the damage which was done he felt a surge of vigor and determination and he looked above himself and started to climb vigorously to where he saw the beam of light was coming from.
             He climbed and climbed and the thing simply carried on as if he did not notice where the bird was or what it was doing. The bird moved further and further up the thing until he saw the blue of the sky very clearly and he forced his way out of the body of the thing and he flapped his wings and he used all his might. He found that he was able to hover just enough to escape from the body of the thing and just as he was freed his wings gave out and he fell to the ground from far up and landed a great way down into the earth floor with a forceful thud.  The fall to the ground felt like a great victory for the bird, for he now knew that some use of his wings had remained and this filled him with great joy. 
             As he laid on the earth floor to rest, he saw that a human had entered the open land and was coming towards him. As the human approached him he came to find that it was that of a little girl.  So exhausted was the bird that when the girl had picked him up and carried him in her arm, he put up no sort of resistance. For he hadn't the strength to  muster any. She brought the bird with her and the bird fell asleep in the swaying motions of her walk.
            When the bird awoke he saw that he was in a garden bed. Nearby there was a house where he imagined the girl had lived. Outside the garden bed, there was a stone pond where a little pool of water had sat and the bird flapped his wings and he could reach the pond very easily and after cooling himself in the pool of water he perched along its edges and this was lovely for him because he had not been able to perch for a long time up until then.
            As the days passed in this garden land, he found that the girl would come out and feed him seeds upon every morning and very quickly he gained his strength back and he did not come to fear the girl for he knew that she was truly good and kind and he became very fond of her and she of him.
            Alongside this perch there was also a wooden birdhouse which suited the bird very nicely.It kept him very warm from the harsh cold. And all throwout this garden land, many birds would come to visit and he was happy to be in their company and them in his. For they had known the fair life of the garden land onl.  They had not known of the forest or of the fierce creatures who dwelled inside of it. They liked to hear  his stories of where he had been and as they listened to his stories they would look at him and felt that he was the bravest of them all and they admired him for this. And the bird found that he was very grateful for all that had happened and that he was very happy.

                                    The End