The Story of Little Bird and Dog

Welcome, welcome to my new blog! Come in. Sit down. Make yourselves comfortable. I thought I would start things off with a little story for you about birds (of course!). We are a big storytelling family. I like to collect stories and this collection of mine has served me well. I will often use these stories as inspiration to create my own unique tales, or just pass them on to my boys as I have heard them, with a bit of my own flavoring. Sometimes I sing the story, which can be very magical for the little ones. And sometimes I make simple little puppets out of paper or use little figures we may already have in our toy collection. But usually, I just use my voice and the children are all quite satisfied. Stories are one of the loveliest gifts you can give to a child (and to an adult too!) and once you get the hang of it, you can pull them out of your pocket for various occasions. So, I thought I would share a story I wrote for a playgroup we were a part of a few years ago. Please share it with your little ones. You may print it out and read it. However, I must say that children will find nothing more magical than a tale that seems to be created out of thin air before their eyes. It need not be repeated word for word. In fact, it is better if you add a bit of your own making to it. So please don't worry about it being perfect. Just believe you are creating magic and your children will believe it too. OK. Enough said. Enjoy!

THE TALE OF LITTLE BIRD AND DOG

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there was a little bird who loved to dance in the sky. He would weave between the leafy trees in the woods and fly loopty loops in the blue of the sky. He loved nothing more than to use his wings and he was always forgetting about other important things like feathering his nest and even eating. He was sad when the sun put itself to bed every night because that meant he must wait until morning to fly again. And when the sun rose in the morning over the mountain tops, Little Bird jumped right out of his nest, gobbled down a worm or two, and took off flying.

Soon, too soon for Little Bird, the days became shorter and the air became colder.

"Eat up Little Bird and get nice and fat for soon there will be no more food here and we will need to make our journey to our wintering place" said the other birds.

"Yes, yes" promised little bird, but he would forget about his promise as soon as the words left his little beak.

One evening, while all the birds were settling in their nests for the evening, one of his bird friends said, "Little Bird, tomorrow we will all leave to our wintering place so you must be ready. No more flying about and dancing in the sky for you in the morning. You must be ready to follow us when we all leave so that you will not be left behind."

"Yes, yes" said Little Bird, snuggling into his warm nest and forgetting about his promise the moment the words left his beak.

The next morning, when the sun rose over the mountain tops, Little Bird jumped right out of his nest, gobbled down a worm or two, and took off flying. He was the first bird to rise and was long gone when his flock began their journey to the wintering place. Little Bird had forgotten that today was the day of the journey. He just kept weaving between the now not so leafy trees in the wood and flying loopty loops in the blue of the sky. In fact, his heart felt especially happy today and he forget to look where he was flying and he flew right into a clothesline. Oh no! Poor Little Bird hurt his wing and fell down to the ground. He tried to fly but he could not. His wing would just not work. So he walked back to the trees where his flock nested to look for help from one of his bird friends. It wasn't until he arrived home and found all the trees empty that he realized that today was the day the flock was beginning their journey to the wintering place. With great sadness, Little Bird realized that he had been left behind and there was no way to catch up to his flock. He could not fly, for his wing did not work. He could not walk. He was already tired from his short walk between the clothesline he had flown into and his nest in the trees. Little Bird began to cry.

I must tell you that Little Bird cried and cried for a very long time. But after awhile, although his sadness remained, Little Bird found that he had no more tears. And so he dried his eyes with his working wing and began to think of a way to get to the wintering place, for he knew he would never survive the winter if he stayed where he was. Besides, he would also be very lonely and so he had to think of a plan. He decided that what he needed was help. He looked around and saw a very busy squirrel running about gathering up nuts that had fallen from the trees.

"Excuse me Squirrel" said Little Bird. "My flock has left for the wintering place and I have hurt my wing and have no way of catching up to them by myself. Can you please help me?"

Squirrel barely paused to consider Little Bird's request as he was far too busy gathering nuts.

"I'm not sure how I can help you" said Squirrel. "I have too much to do around here, you know. I winter right where I am and I need lots of nuts to get me through the cold. I'm sorry, but helping you is out of the question. But...here's a nut for you. Perhaps that will help a little."

And with that, Squirrel tossed a nut in Little Bird's direction and scampered away to find nuts in a different part of the wood.

The nut that Squirrel had given him was too hard for Little Bird's beak so it was not helpful at all. Little Bird began to look around for someone else that might help him. He found Black Bear picking the last of the berries off of a bush. Perhaps Black Bear could help him.


"Excuse me Black Bearl" said Little Bird. "My flock has left for the wintering place and I have hurt my wing and have no way of catching up to them by myself. Can you please help me?"


"I'm not sure how I can help you" said Black Bear. "I have too much to do around here, you know. I winter right where I am and I need to fatten up some more to get me through the cold. I'm sorry, but helping you is out of the question. But...here's a berry for you. Perhaps that will help a little."

He tossed a berry in Little Bird's direction. Little Bird ate if up. It was a tasty berry but a berry could not help him get to the wintering place. Little Bird felt like giving up but he decided to ask one more person. Just then, Dog walked by.


"Excuse me Dog" said Little Bird. "My flock has left for the wintering place and I have hurt my wing and have no way of catching up to them by myself. Can you please help me?"

Dog was quiet for a moment. Dog loved to walk and he loved an adventure and he loved company. Little Bird looked so very light that Dog could not imagine carrying Little Bird on his back would be a burden. So Dog agreed to carry Little Bird to the wintering place and that is just what he did. The journey took many days and as they walked, Dog and Little Bird told each other stories and sang songs together and sometimes were just silent together. They became wonderful friends and enjoyed each other's company so much that the days passed quickly.

Before they knew it, they arrived in the wintering place and there was a great commotion made by the birds upon seeing Little Bird arrive on the back of Dog. They had thought they had lost Little Bird forever and here he was! Oh, they were so very happy to see him. They listened to the story of how Little Bird had injured his wing by flying into a clothesline and how no one would help him get to the wintering place, except for Dog. All of the birds thought Little Bird must be the bravest bird in all of history and they made up a song about him, which you can still hear them singing in the trees to this day. They also were so very grateful to Dog for his help that birds flew far and wide into the towns and villages and cities, and they twittered in the humans' ears the story of the loyal and kind-hearted dog. And from that day on, upon the advice of the birds, the humans decided to make dogs their very special friends.

Dog and bird remained friends for always and you too can hear the birds singing the story of Dog and Little Bird. All you have to do is listen very carefully and you will hear them!

All original content copyright Lisa Ackerman, 2013. (Please feel free to share this story with your children, but do not reproduce any of this content without my express permission. You know the drill.)