Starling and Significance

The Botanical Garden. . . . An amazing beautiful, and quiet place where everyone feels good. A starling ran toward us on the path, stopped two steps away from us, looked at us, ran away, then came back, looked at us as if he wanted to say something very important. We stopped. The starling looked at us again and turned onto a green lawn. “Just like a fairy tale hero!” I smiled. Welcome to the Fairy Tale World!

STARLING AND SIGNIFICANCE

Starling walked along the path, occasionally looking around. . . . Proudly folding his wings behind his back, throwing forward his long thin legs, he thought about only one thing, “Do I look significant?”

He stumbled upon Earthworm, looked at him, sighed, “Well, I do need to eat something, but . . .” and went on. At first, Earthworm was terrified that he would be eaten, but then he came to his senses and, slipping off the path, quickly slithered to hide in the rain-softened soil.

Seeing this, the neighbors–wagtails laughed, but Starling turned up his beak and saw no one but himself. Yes, yes! He admired himself, imagining himself from all sides. Only lately he had become more and more worried, “Am I significant enough?”

When this question began to bother him as a daily thought, he went out to the path and began to walk back and forth, waiting for one of his acquaintances, or maybe even strangers, to say something pleasant.

“If I raise my head higher and turn my beak to the side, it will be quite good! Er . . . it’s a little uncomfortable, but no one walks like me!” he reasoned, stumbling occasionally on pebbles scattered on the path.

Starling reached the tall reeds that grew on the bank of the pond, and then, elegantly spinning on one foot, turned back. He did not count how many times this exercise was repeated, he just walked and waited for someone to finally notice. But for some reason, no one looked at him.

Everyone was hurrying. “Well, now Ground Beetle will definitely pay attention to me. She is running exactly in my direction. Well! I will raise my beak higher, and I won’t even say: ‘Hello!’ If she gets offended, I will say: ‘I don’t have time! I have a lot to do!’” Starling thought and raised his beak even higher.

Ground Beetle did say ‘Hello’, but she ran somewhere so fast that she didn’t notice either. An acquaintance, Crane, was carrying something tasty. He looked at Starling and, saying nothing, flew away. “Well, I also need to eat something.” Starling thought again, sighed, and . . . walked on.

“Hey! Not tired yet?” Someone’s question was heard from the reeds. Out of surprise, Starling stumbled and plopped down, on the path. His thin, long legs, with knotty knees, ridiculously stretched forward.

Realizing that his appearance was not significant at all, Starling raised his beak even higher and, without turning his head, asked, “Excuse me, do you have a conversation for me?”

“‘You have’, ‘for me’?!” someone mimicked from the thickets. “I have nothing for you, I am watching over my kids! But you have been here so many times: back–and–forth. At first, it seemed that you had lost something and maybe needed help, but now I see . . . no—is this really how to look for something lost?”

Water Rat’s sharp nose protruded from the reeds. “So, why are you wasting your time?” he asked.

Out of surprise, Starling lowered his beak and, blinking his eyes, looked at Water Rat not knowing what to say. But then he remembered his significance again, got up, and, throwing his wings behind his back, moved on.

“What is he?” Magpie asked Water Rat.

“And you need to know everything! From morning to evening, you only feed on chatter!” grumbled Water Rat.

“Ah-hah . . . that’s it! I already understand!” confidently screamed Magpie and hurried on. “Well, okay . . . bye!”

“You don’t understand anything!” shouted Water Rat, but Magpie was already far away.

The Sun filled the day with warmth. Starling was tired and sat down on a birch branch.

“Look, look . . . Starling! Magpie said: ‘Starling is thinking about something very significant!’” came a whisper from above.

Starling listened with pleasure, “Ooh! Finally, it’s what I have been waiting for! It’s about me . . .”

Nearby, on the branch, two tomtits were talking to each other.

“And what is significant?” Small Tomtit asked the larger one.

Big Tomtit was silent for a while, then replied, “That which everyone needs . . .”

“And me too?”

“Yes!”

“O–o . . . And . . . is it enough for everyone?”

Big Tomtit laughed, “Is the Sun, Sky, Water, and Land enough for all of us?”

“Are those the most significant things?”

“Yes . . . and also Love.”

“Is there also enough Love for everyone?”

Big Tomtit laughed again and answered kindly, “Love can’t be measured. It has no limits.”

The tomtits flew away. Light Wind slightly swayed the branches and seemed to agree, “Yes, yes, yes. . . .”

Starling sat on the birch branch and thought about . . .  significance. Only now, for him, it was different. Starling remembered how amazing it was to see morning from his house: the beautiful Sky, the Sun. . . . How wonderful to fly home and know that there is someone waiting for you.

“Is it possible to be without? No. . . .” he reasoned.

One by one, memories came. There were so many of them, that probably a day would not be long enough to describe them all. . . . And the more he remembered, the less significant it seemed to him: how he looked on the outside. If you see in life more than yourself, only then will you notice what is around you. . . .

Starling looked at his thin long legs with knotty knees and smiled happily,

“Funny . . . how much time I have wasted.”

Magpie noisily sank to the branch beside him.

“Hey! How’s your head?” she asked, and without waiting for an answer continued, “Everyone is wondering what you think about all the time!”

Starling commiserated, “Are you tired?”

Magpie tilted her head suspiciously, looking: is he laughing at me? But her curiosity was stronger, so she could not resist, “Not too much . . . so, what are you thinking?

“Well, about . . . significance. . . .”

Magpie shook her head in surprise and asked, “Which one?”

They discussed it for a long time, sometimes agreeing, sometimes differing. The Sun hid behind the tops of the trees and took the heat of the day along with him.

Starling and Magpie sat on the birch branch and decided for themselves the questions that are really significant for everyone who asks them at some point in life. . . .

Light Wind, slightly swaying the branches, listened to them and seemed to agree, “Yes, yes, yes. . . .”

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

P.S. I met Starling in my childhood on the way to the forest, which began almost behind our house. Then I met others in many places later, as well as in the Botanical Garden. They are different, and at the same time similar.  They look attentively at us, like they want to tell us, people, something very important, something that we sometimes forget in the hustle and bustle of everyday affairs. Well, in fact, we can understand them. Our hearts know. . . .