Week 11: Storytelling: The Truthful Bird

The Truthful Bird

It was a dark and chilly night in the season of autumn that I sat alone on the end of a branch in the middle of the forest.  This was not the first time that I sit by myself, all alone, with nothing to do except ponder how life in the city would be.   I have always dreamed about flying over all the bright lights and different colors that fill the sky each day and night.  

I image that there is so much to do in the city and so many friends to make.  Although I have my thoughts and dreams, I know they will never come true to a silly, clumsy, little bird like me.  So I just sit here, day in and day out.  I watch the sun rise and set above the trees like a worm coming out of the dirt and going back in.  

I would do anything to see more birds that I can become friends with, but this far into the forest, all I see are scary animals with bright yellow eyes and plants that I cannot name.  You see, I am not just any bird.  In fact, I have the power to make people truthful.  One might think this is a blessing, but this gift has done the exact opposite for me and that is what landed me in the middle of a dark, scary, and lonely forest.  

Only a year ago, my owner tried to use me in his village in law cases involving crimes.  I can sing my song and magically, the people would have no other option than to tell the truth.  I guess I felt good about helping out the village and locking away the guilty in jail, but after I displayed my gifts, I returned back to my small little box that my master kept in a drawer so no one could steal me.  There was one case in particular that the guilty human fought and fought against my powers until finally, after days and days of arguing, he broke down and confessed the truth.  Since then, he was set out to find me, steal me, and then exile me to a place that could never be found. 

To my dismay, the man paid a little homeless boy to steal me from my owner so he could put me in a place far, far away from the village.  Thoughts were running through my head about my life being over.  I thought he was going to chop me up and make some bird stew.  

When I was taken out of the bag, I opened my eyes to the beautiful lights and sights of London!  I remember thinking that this was all a dream or that I had died and gone to Heaven.  It turns out, the little homeless boy knew what powers I had from peeking through the windows of the courthouse and he knew that they couldn’t go to waste.  He sold me to the King of England and from then on, my life was wonderful.  

I now hang high in the entrance of the castle where I can make many friends.  I sleep on a big red pillow made out of the softest silk.  The castle cooks even make me the best worms I’ve ever had in my life.  I help out with everything I can in the castle and make the country a better place by keeping people true to their word.

Author's Note:

I wrote my story from the Natural History Nursery Rhymes from Britain. The original poem went like this...

"THE winds they did blow;
The leaves they did wag;
Along came a beggar boy,
And put me in his bag.

He took me up to London;
A lady did me buy,
Put me in a silver cage,
And hung me up on high,

With apples by the fire,
And nuts for to crack,
Besides a little feather bed
To rest my little back."

I added a lot to this poem and make it into a story about a magical bird that was trapped in a forest.  I still kept the beggar and being hung up high somewhere in London.  This story did not have much detail to what the "thing" that was hung up in a silver cage so I let my imagination run wild and created a story about a little bird.   

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