THE LITTLE GRAY PARROT
A Fletcher Publishing Children's Book
PAGE 4
he Yellow Wren flew away but soon came back. Again the Yellow Wren stuffed
the young cuckoo with food. The Yellow Wren did this several times and the
Little Gray Parrot watched in amazement. Finally the Little Gray Parrot said,
"Cuckoo Bird, why does someone else feed your baby? Why don’t you feed
him?"
"What a stupid question!" said the Cuckoo Bird. "I’m going
on vacation tomorrow!" And he flew away.
The Little Gray Parrot was amazed! When the Yellow Wren came back the Little
Gray Parrot called out to her, "Yellow Wren! Yellow Wren! May I ask you a
question?"
The Yellow Wren first fed the young cuckoo, then flew down and sat on a
springy shrub close to the Little Gray Parrot. "You must be quick,"
she said. "As you see, I have a baby to feed and cannot talk long."
"I see you are feeding the Cuckoo Bird’s baby," said the Little
Gray Parrot. "I came all this way through the forest to ask you for some of
your beautiful yellow color, but now you are tired. Your feathers don’t shine
like they used to. You used to be a spot of sun on a leaf, but now you are dull
and used. Why do you spend all your energy feeding the Cuckoo Bird’s baby
until you are no longer beautiful? Don’t you think that is a stupid thing to
do?"
The Yellow Wren looked long at the Little Gray Parrot. The Little Gray Parrot
began to regret her words. Then the Yellow Wren lit on the ground beside the
Little Gray Parrot. She smiled at the Little Gray Parrot an old, earth-worn
smile and said, "Little Gray Parrot. What is in my nest is mine. When a
baby cries for food I cannot be deaf. It is life calling to me. If I do not
answer I have taken the bony hand of death into my own. We walk through the
forest and only dry, spent leaves are in our path. I will not befriend him. Any
life that comes to me I will preserve. I am often second in my own life. But in
this, first in the earth. Do you understand?"
The Little Gray Parrot hung her head, and then looked at the Yellow Wren from
her bright gray eye. "I do understand," she whispered, "I think
you must be the smartest bird in all the forest! You give life, and that is the
greatest thing on all the earth! You are a Mother, and love with a mother’s
heart. This is your true beauty, more radiant than yellow feathers. Your heart
is yellow and warm as the sun. I will put this in my red wagon instead of a
yellow feather." And she did.
The young cuckoo began calling again for the Yellow Wren, and she kissed the
Little Gray Parrot on the tip of her gray beak and flew away. The Little Gray
Parrot watched her fly to her baby and again pulled her red wagon through the
forest.
"I only have one more bird to find," said the Little Gray Parrot.
"But he is the most beautiful of all!" And the Little Gray Parrot went
into the deepest shade of the forest, for that is where the Peacock lived.
The Little Gray Parrot pulled her red wagon through the quiet darkness. She
tugged and tugged it over tangles of roots and fallen branches. Soon the Little
Gray Parrot was tired and stopped to rest. She sat on a fallen log and admired
the green museum walls around her. Her gray eyes fell on Monet and Manet, and
Van Gogh hiding in a corner painting daisies.
Of a sudden the Little Gray Parrot heard a loud voice booming through the
trees. "Ku-wow! Ku-wow! Ku-wow!" it said. It sang like Big Ben, it
rang like Liberty!
