BALDY-BIRD
Far far away deep in the middle of dense forest there was a little open place. All the animals and birds would gather there. And they would play and sing and dance and have a wonderful time.
Nearby there was a little stream where they would splash about and have fun. All through the day they sang and danced and played and enjoyed themselves.
All of them except one. A little bird that no one seemed to like at all.
He was an unusual little bird. He was like most birds except for one thing. He did not have any feathers at all! Of course, that made him look quite odd. And all the other animals and birds did think him to be quite odd. They called him “Baldy-Bird” and made a lot of fun of him.
At first, he did not quite realize what was happening. He rushed in eagerly to join in the forest games. But there never was any place for him. And he made his little happy bird-sounds as he tried to take part in the forest chatter. But no one paid any attention to him. He was left out of all the fun and games. And some of the other animals and birds tripped him and laughed as he fell. And they pushed him into the water and got him all wet whenever he went anywhere near the forest stream.
“Baldy-bird! Baldy-bird! Baldy-waldy-faldy-bird!” they screamed with glee as they teased him right through the day.
A long time passed like this. There was nothing that the little bird could do to get himself into any of the groups of animals or birds. And it hurt so much to be all alone and neglected in the midst of all the singing and dancing and playing in the middle of the forest.
One night he decided to run away from it all. When all the other animals and birds were fast asleep he hopped off away from that not-for-him happy playground and tried to lose himself deep into the forest. He hopped and hopped through dense undergrowth and bush and forest streams. He hopped and hopped through dark and damp and eerie half-lit patches. He just hopped away to lost-land right in the deepest inside of the forest.
It was cold there, and very very dark. And he could hardly see in front of him. He took a few cautious steps in front and he suddenly bumped into what seemed like a very big tree. He looked up as much as he could see. The tree seemed to go up and up forever. Here, he thought, he would be safe enough and far away from all the jeering and the ridicule and the teasing and the being left out. So he hopped on to one of the lower branches and started a slow climb to the very top.
It took him a very long time but he was a determined little bird. He finally reached the topmost branch and perched himself there, embraced fully now by the loneliness that he had known for so long. He thought of the playful middle of the forest and all the other animals and all that he wanted to be but couldn’t and his whole being broke out into deep nerve-wracking sobs. The hush of the deep forest echoed the sobs and it seemed almost as if the whole forest was sobbing with him.
He had been sobbing for a few minutes when suddenly he heard a deep sonorous voice coming out from the skies above:
“Who is that crying his heart out in the branches of my tree?”
Baldy-bird stifled his tears and looked around but he could not see anyone. The mysterious voice came out of the skies once again:”Who is that crying in the branches of my tree?”
In a slightly tremulous voice Baldy-bird dared a faint reply: “It is I, they call me Baldy-bird,” he replied.
The voice turned gentle as it came out of the skies once again: “What is it that troubles you, my child?” it asked.
Assured by the gentleness in the voice, Baldy-bird began to speak about the middle-of-the-forest playground and all the birds and animals there. He spoke of the fun and the games and the chatter and the singing. And then in the saddest of sad voices, he spoke about how he was left out of everything. And about how lonely he was. And about how he could not stand it anymore and had decided to run away and get himself lost in the deepest deep of the forest. There was an occasional “Hmmm…Hmmm..” from the gentle heavenly voice as it listened encouragingly to the story of the little lonely bird.
And Baldy-bird spoke his heart out all through the dark of the night.