Читать книгу Wisdoms of the Sparrows - Teguh Pranoto Chen - Страница 8

Prologue

Somewhere, the sun shines down upon a warm spring morning. Here at the edge of a dark lush forest, in an idyllic and lively little village, stands a peaceful old church. It is a beautiful building with purple flowering wisteria climbing up the old stone walls.

The church stands in a pretty churchyard full of brightly colored roses, and the pale spring blossoms float down from the trees onto freshly cut green grass. It is a serene place to while away the hours, and many people come by simply to sit on the benches here, admiring the church and its churchyard.

A little way up, toward the top of the church, in a sheltered crevice below the spire, is a tiny but perfectly formed sparrow’s nest.

Sitting on the edge of the sparrows’ nest, preening her brown feathers, is Mother Sparrow. She has five hungry young chicks in her nest, and this is a very busy time for her.

“Mom … MOM … MOM!!!” snaps Snappy the chick. She is impatient compared to the others and very much in need of some life lessons in good manners and gratitude.

“I’m ’UNGRY!” grunts Greedy. He is a tad pushy, to say the least, and he doesn’t mind bullying his siblings to get what he wants.

“I suggest you feed me right now because I’m the best!” demands Cocky. One of these days, his overconfidence could get him into trouble.

“Why don’t you look in the bigger bush!?” shouts Feisty, trying to spur her mother on. She likes to explore all the options.

“Maybe I’ll just go out there and find some food for myself!” Plucky threatens, knowing that in reality, he is too young to leave the nest.

“I’m doing my best, my darlings!” Mother tweets, feeling a little exasperated. The chicks are growing quickly now, and they are becoming very demanding.

Their father is helping with the feeding too, but he tends to do the longer trips, searching farther away from the nest for rarer but more nutritious items. He is not quite as patient or experienced with the chicks as Mother Sparrow. She has the difficult task of staying close to the nest while still finding something to eat on each small trip she takes.

Sometimes when she is in the birdbath, stealing a few seconds for herself, Mother thinks back to the days when she was as free as a bird! No nests, no partner, and no exhausting brood of chicks … but then she remembers that this is the life she always wanted, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.