Bird and the Edge of the Sky

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“Where do birds fly?” As a child I asked adults this question many times, and I heard them say that they’re looking for food and warmth. But these answers didn’t seem at all like what birds were looking for. So, I kept searching for an answer. Many years later, when children started asking me the same question, I answered the same way I once answered myself: “They’re looking for the edge of the sky. . . .” And then this fairy tale appeared. Welcome to Fairy Tale World!

Olga and the Fairy Tale Team 🙂

BIRD AND THE EDGE OF THE SKY

Bird wanted to find the Edge of the Sky. . . . How often she asked the other birds where it was, but no one knew.  “What is it to you?” she kept hearing in response and felt so embarrassed as if she wanted to know something that no one needed to know. Finally, to ask herself why she so painfully wanted to know it, Bird could not.

So, once soaring into the air, she realized that today she would begin to search for that Edge of the Sky. Saying goodbye to her friends, she rose to the heights and quickly disappeared into the bluish haze that is higher than all clouds in the Sky.

Conversations about her soon faded, only Fidgety Jay sometimes taught her children, “Don’t look up at the Sky for too long! You don’t need it. . . . Look down, where there is food!” It had been a long time, and Bird was still gone. Where she was, and what had happened to her, even Wind did not know. . . .

Meanwhile, Bird was searching for an answer to her question, and, to exhaustion, she flew and flew through countless lakes, fields, rivers, and forests. They changed like the images in a kaleidoscope where they were of the same parts, but different each time.

She flew, occasionally stopping and spreading her tired wings, allowing herself to rest a little, and listen to the sounds of Earth, which during the trip became quite unfamiliar, even alien. Surprisingly, she did not have despair in this endless search. Gradually came, an understanding, mysterious, and very strong feeling, that everything around you has no end. That inspired her and gave strength to fly on. Why? Probably, to now know herself and to understand the meaning of her life.

The journey had changed her . . . she had become almost white, even silver-gray. From the long road, the ends of her wings turned black, and her beak and legs, from the winds, cold, and heat, remained red. Bird was searching everywhere, and even though realizing she was unlikely to find it, she could not stop. . . .

The great amazing World asks unexpected questions to those who live in it not indifferently, and then, seeing their search, also unexpectedly helps with an answer. It seems like a long deliberation with yourself, and the suffering in determining your path will last indefinitely. But a certain moment comes, and like a miracle, brilliantly and suddenly, there is an answer to what has troubled you for such a long time. A meeting . . . a clear look, words, a smile, and a feeling of relief comes, like a breath of fresh air, an understanding of all existence as unique, unified, and free. Could something in such a World have an end? There is only a continuation—that is all. . . .

Bird finally stopped . . . not from the fatigue, nor from despair—during the trip, under her white wings, she had seen a lot. . . . She stopped in admiration of Beauty. Beauty gazed at the blue lakes, stroked forests with winds, caressed the flowers, and listened to the songs of her Earth. Bird didn’t want to fly further anymore. . . .

And why fly when the Sky has no edge and the World is endless? She folded her wings and looked around. Bird could clearly see all. She loved to stand high. Bird did not worry that people lived close by—during her long trip she had lost her fear. . . . It was just the habit of lifting one leg to rest faster and fly further, that had survived, and on the road, the voice disappeared. “How wonderful it is here!” Bird thought. “It seems I have never seen such Beauty anywhere! I will stay here forever,” she decided and sighed with relief.

“Look, look! Bird is back!” chattered voices below. Bird saw among the thickets, reed ducks. “Fidgety Jay said yesterday that she would never return home . . .” they continued to chatter, showing with all their appearance that it could never be otherwise.

Bird raised her head and looked up at the Sun, which was already setting behind the lake, giving it a pink color, and suddenly understood: the Edge that she had been looking for, for so long is very close! It had always been where she had come from. She felt so happy as if there had not been a long hard journey, which was probably needed to understand that. . . .

From the book “Happy Home Fairy Tales for children and adults” https://olgaverasen.com/library

P.S. “Where do birds fly?” I asked the four-year-old participants in my workshop “World in Me”. “Oh, they fly somewhere far away because they want to find something!” a little girl confidently replied. “They just love to fly!” chimed a boy and added, proudly looking around, “And they’re not afraid to fly far! And also . . .” Soon the room rang with the chimes of cheerful children’s voices, each one more beautiful than the next, their boundless tales following the vast blue sky. . . .

I listened attentively to my Interlocutor, who listed developmental challenges, adding more “Difficult,” “Impossible,” “Limited resources,” “No time!” and so on. There were, in fact, quite a few challenges, and my interlocutor genuinely wanted to solve them. He sighed sadly and paused. “I have one question” I said, “Can I . . .” “Sure! Of course!” he smiled. “Where do the birds fly?” I asked. “What? What do you mean?” he responded in surprise. “Exactly what I asked,” I smiled.

My interlocutor fell silent and… and a broad smile appeared on his face. “You know, I asked that question many times as a child!” He laughed. “Me too!” I laughed back. My interlocutor thought for a moment, then said, “You know, they just know where they’re going!”

When we know where we’re going, we find what we’re looking for, and it might even be right next to us . . . and sometimes it makes sense to ask someone who always lives in our heart and keeps looking at our boundless sky with admiring eyes. . . .