“I soar high up in the sky,
Welcoming each day with great joy.
Over hills, valleys, forests and beautiful waters I fly,
The mighty wind’s daughter am I……”
Each day of mine begins with this song, which I sing to myself as I happily glide above my beautiful city at dawn. This is my favorite part of the day, the time when the sun awakens from its slumber and emerges from the horizon. Every morning I fly to the nearest sea just to have a view of this breath- taking sight which renews the passion for life within me. It reminds me of what an amazing life I have and what a lucky creature I am. The Creator of the universe has been gracious to me and I will never cease to be thankful to Him. Who would not desire to live life the way I do? Mother Nature provides me abundantly with not only the food that sustains me but also with a place to rest my humble head. There is no other whom I depend on. I am the master of my will and I go wherever I wish to. There is nothing I love more than to move about from one place to the other because I am an explorer and this is my life. After all, the life of a bird is short and so I believe that I should make the most of mine.
One fine morning as I was searching for some food, I came across a group of small children playing together in a poor locality. As I looked closely, I realized that they were not really playing. The older and bigger children were standing away from the smallest child in the group, a boy of about six or seven years of age. I perched myself on a low- hanging branch of the nearest tree so that I could have a better look. The bigger boys were screaming and laughing while the little boy stood quietly with his head down. Since I do not understand the talk of humans I had no clue about what was going on but I figured that something was not right. Soon the big boys started pushing and shoving the little boy. He sobbed softly at first but as he fell down, his crying became louder and attracted the attention of a man passing by, who shouted out something in an angry tone which sent all the boys running off. All except for the little one who was still sitting where he had fallen and continued to cry.
I felt bad for him and truly wished there was something I could do to – “AAAA” I cried in pain as I felt a sharp pang in my right wing. It shook me off my balance and I fell to the ground. I did not know what just happened. One moment I was safely sitting on top and the next moment, I had fallen down with a bruised wing. I heard laughter at some distance from where I was and then saw the same gang of boys looking at me with sadistic pleasure in their eyes. One of them had catapulted a stone with the evil intention to hurt me and was now slowly walking towards me. I understood that they wanted to torture me even more and kill me so I frantically tried to escape. But I was wounded so badly that I could not fly and trying to move was hurting me even more. At this point I was extremely terrified. My death was walking towards me and there was nothing I could do to get away from it. I screamed for help even though I knew that nobody would care. But suddenly I was gently lifted up from the ground. I turned to see the little boy looking at me with panic in his eyes. Wrapping his small palms around my body gently, he broke into a run as the boy who hit me chased him, screaming in anger. The little boy ran as fast as his legs would carry him and luckily, we reached the shelter of his home before the big boy could get to us.
The little one named Bob, took me to his mother, who gently cleaned my wound and bandaged it. Bob then gave me his biscuits and spoke to me in a kind tone. Although I did know what he said, I felt strangely comforted. My wounds were still hurting but I felt a little better. I knew that I was safe while with him and had nothing to worry about. Days passed by and Bob became my best friend. He loved me a lot and spent most of his time with me. As my condition gradually improved, I started moving around little by little. Finally the day came when I was completely fine and I could fly like before. The immense joy that I saw in his face elated me. I too loved him and his company but we both knew that eventually I would have to leave and now the time had come. Bob had taught me an important lesson that all humans are not heartless. I knew I would miss him and swore to visit him again. We both then said our goodbyes to each other and I took off into the skies singing the song that I loved.
“I soar high up in the sky,
Welcoming each day with great joy.
Over hills, valleys, forests and beautiful waters I fly,
The mighty wind’s daughter am I.
No one can stop me; nothing can bring me down,
For I am strong and I won’t let anything harm me now.”