the crow

Posted by Cliodhna

 

 

 

 

Once upon a time not so long ago, and not so far away either, there lived a crow named Fiach. He was different to the rest of his family. While they were happy to stay in the same place, and live in the same tree, he wanted to travel the whole wide world and see everything there was to see.

At night when he was snuggled deep into his nest, with the rest of his family asleep around him, he would dream of far away places and wonder what they were like.

 

One very early morning Fiach woke up suddenly. The sun was just starting to think about getting out of bed, only one star still shone above in the brightening sky and the cockerel from the farm was crowing.

“I have to go traveling and see everything there is to see,” he thought to himself suddenly “I have to go now, I can’t keep dreaming about it but I don’t want to go on my own, I would like to find someone to go with me”

The trouble was he had asked all of his friends and family already and none of them wanted to go with him.

 

He flew down to the farm below and heard a canary singing. He landed on the window ledge beside the cage and asked “Canary, would you like to travel the world with me and see everything there is to see?”

The canary twittered “and leave the safety of my cage” she said alarmed “the world is too big and I am too small. Ask someone else”

 

He saw the cat asleep in the morning sun.

 “Cat,” he said “would you like to travel the world with me and see everything there is to see?”

The cat opened one eye slowly, and then the other, and then she stretched her legs and yawned. The crow could see her claws and, inside her pink mouth, some very sharp teeth.

“What was that you said?” she purred lazily

At the sight of those sharp teeth and claws Fiach felt very nervous.

 “Nothing at all” he said “Merely wishing you a good day.

“Ah,” said the cat and yawned again “good day to you too then” and she went back to sleep.

 

The farmyard dog was chewing on a bone and woofed happily at the crow.

“Good morning” he barked

“Would you like to travel the world with me and see everything there is to see?” Fiach asked the dog and the dog, to the great happiness of the crow, answered

“Yes, that would be fun, let’s go!”

They had only gone maybe an hour or two when they came to a big river that wound its way slowly through the countryside

“Woof woof” The dog barked “I can’t cross this and I am hungry and tired and there is food waiting for me back at the farmyard and besides, the little girl I play with would be so sad if I went away. Sorry” and he turned and ran off.

Fiach landed sadly on a branch of a nearby tree, he wanted to travel the world and see everything there was to see but he didn’t want to go traveling on his own.

 Then he heard a soft voice in his ear “I will go with you anywhere you want to go, in the whole wide world to see everything there is to see”

Fiach was confused, he looked all around above and below him but he still couldn’t see anyone. “Who are you” he cawed again

The voice laughed playfully “I am the wind!”

…and off they flew!

 

They visited many places and the wind was always with him lifting his wings so he didn’t get tired. They flew over high mountains covered in snow and huge oceans and cities that had more people and more birds in them than Fiach had ever thought existed. He made friends everywhere, and the wind was always there at his side

 

They met a Zebra in Africa.

“You look like a horse” Fiach said to him

The Zebra snorted “I am not a horse” she said “I am a Zebra and that is a different thing entirely”

“Are you black with white stripes or white with black stripes?” Fiach asked her curiously

But she looked at him with her eyes narrowed as if he was making some sort of bad joke and stalked off without saying another word.

 

He flew across a huge ocean and met dolphins playing in the water. They splashed him with water playfully and showed him tricks they could do.

 

In Texas they met a wind called El Diablo that blew heat and fire and sucked the moisture from the ground and left it dry and set fire to trees and houses and grass. Fiach was glad to get away from that wind.

They played with dust devils and ran away from a tornado.

“I didn’t realize there were so many types of winds in the world” said Fiach to his friend “I think you are definitely my favorite”

“Thanks!” said the wind and she tossed him playfully sideways

 

They met a kangaroo in Australia

“You are maybe the strangest animal I have ever seen”

“Really!” asked the Kangaroo “That’s great! Look how high I can hop!” and he started hopping as high as he could to show Fiach.

 

In Antarctica, where it is so cold it is always covered in Ice, they met some very strange birds “Penguins”, the wind whispered in his ear. “They never fly!”

“Birds that don’t fly?” asked Fiach amazed

This surprised him, never had he met birds that didn’t fly and they were so funny looking! But they could swim like fish…

They crowded around him excited to meet someone who was traveling the world to see everything there was to see and proud that he had come to see them

“Come with us, we are going to a place where the fish are delicious” they invited him but he looked at the cold green water and the ice floating in it and said “No, thank you”

 

They saw bright red frogs and huge yellow snakes.

He also met parrots and he loved their bright colours. He wished he could be bright blue and yellow like they were. His feathers were all black. One of them gave him a bright yellow  feather as a keepsake,.

Thinking about showing the feather to his family made him homesick.

“I think I would like to go home now” he cawed to the wind and they started for home.

 

When he returned home everyone was very excited to see him return; they made him tell his stories over and over again and passed the feather around so everyone could see it.

“Did you see everything there was to see?” they asked him “Did you travel the whole wide world”

The crow thought for a second “Well” he said “I traveled the whole wide world and saw so many wonderful things and made so many wonderful friends but I don’t think I saw everything there was to see, I will have to travel some more to do that”

“Take us with you!!” they shouted “We want to travel the wide world and see everything there is to see”

“Why of course!” said the crow and the wind ruffled his feathers and made the branches shake

“When do you want to leave?” she asked him……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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