Why do I need wings?

Once a guest flew to us. . . A small bird, with thin legs and a yellow stripe, settled on the balcony. The bird looked at my husband and me and . . . doesn’t want to fly away. I carefully put a plate of water and crumbs of bread and sunflower seeds nearby. The bird sat for a long time, looking at us and then flew away. So easily: spread its wings and rose into the sky.

And I remember a question that I heard from a 4-year-old boy. While we played, he came up to me and asked, “I flap my arms like a bird, but why can’t I fly?” I couldn’t answer with “NO”: “not now”, “cannot to fly”, “don’t know”, or etc. I responded, “We, people, create airplanes. “The boy looked at me in surprise and said, “That’s not what I asked. Why can’t I fly? I’m trying!”

This is a Question. . . . I thought about it and asked, “Why do you want to fly? “He answered simply, “I want to!” Happy to share with you a fairy tale about it. Welcome to Fairy Tale World! Olga and the Fairy Tale Team 🙂

WHY DO I NEED WINGS?

In our big World, there lives a little bird named “Why.” She has yellow fuzz for feathers because she is still small. Little Bird Why wants to grow up and become a big bird, just like her Mother Bird and Father Bird.

Mother Bird and Father Bird tell her that if she eats well and runs fast, she will grow up to be a big, beautiful bird. Little Bird Why can run fast, but sometimes she forgets to eat because she is always trying to find answers to her many questions… “Why do trees grow?” “Why do ants need a big house?” “Why does it get cold in the winter?” “Why do frogs croak?” She asked so many questions that Mother Bird and Father Bird called her “Why.”

One morning, Little Bird Why woke up and looked very closely at her tiny fuzzy wings and asked Mother Bird: “Why do I need these?”

“Those are your wings,” smiled Mother Bird.

Little Bird looked attentively at her Mother Bird’s and

Father Bird’s wings, thought a while, and then, asked again,

“Yes, but why do we need wings?”

“To fly,” replied Mother Bird.

“Why do we need to fly?” Little Bird Why asked and again looked at her small tiny wings.

“What do you mean why?” Mother Bird smiled and added happily. “There is nothing more wonderful than to rise into the big blue Sky and fly!” But Little Bird Why kept on.

“And why do we need to fly into the big blue Sky?” she asked in interest.

“Because we are birds!” smiled Father Bird.

Little Bird Why flapped her wings quickly and hopped in one place. She tried to rise into the big blue Sky and fly away, but she couldn’t.

“So why do I have wings, if I can’t fly?” Little Bird Why asked again.

“Because you are still young!” explained Mother Bird.

“You will be able to fly when you grow up! Because you are a bird!” added Father Bird.

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Little Bird Why. She was so happy that she ran into the forest as fast as she could to tell everybody she knew about how she would be able to fly.

Little Bird Why first met Green Frog sitting next to the lake, and she yelled to her: “Hey there! Hello! Guess what? When I grow up, I’ll be able to fly!”

“Great, but we frogs can swim!” laughed Green Frog and jumped into the lake.

Little Bird Why ran a little farther. She caught sight of Ant in the forest glade.

“When I grow up, I’ll be able to fly!” she told Ant.

“Ok, but we ants can build!” Ant said and smiled at her as rolled a big pine cone to add to the anthill.

Little Bird Why ran even further into the forest woods. By a big green leaf, she spotted Long Earthworm.

“When I grow up, I will be able to fly!” she told him proudly.

“Yes, but I can crawl away!” said Long Earthworm and quickly slithered away and hid behind a big green leaf.

“Nobody cares that I have wings!” sighed Little Bird Why sadly, and plodded home.

“Why are you sad?” Mother Bird asked her.

“I’m sad because I’m upset with everyone! I told Green Frog, Ant, and Long Earthworm that when I grow up, I would be able to fly, but they weren’t interested!” sighed Little Bird Why.

“There’s no need to be upset with them!” smiled Mother Bird.

“Why?” asked Little Bird Why.

“Because not everyone wants to fly,” Father Bird said.

“Why? Why doesn’t everyone want to fly?” Little Bird Why asked in surprise.

“Because not everyone needs to,” explained Father Bird. “And not everyone has wings,” added Mother Bird.

“But you know that you are a bird and you do have wings,” said Father Bird.

“And soon you will be able to rise high into the beautiful blue Sky and fly,” smiled Mother Bird.

Mother Bird and Father Bird gently hugged Little Bird Why with their big warm wings. They all looked into the big blue Sky where they would soon spread their wonderful wings and fly high above the land together.

Little Bird Why looked down at her little fuzzy yellow wings and smiled. Now she knew exactly why she needed them. . . .

From the book “Magic Fairy Tales for children and parents” https://olgaverasen.com/library/

About the story that I shared with you above. The boy’s question “Why can’t I fly?” stayed with me. We, people, learn to spread our wings because we have them. These are our thoughts, which can lift us high. But to fly we need two wings. That is balance by unity, which is reflected in Life, about which scientists and thinkers have written for many centuries: the Golden Mean, Day and Night, Inner and Outer World, Material and Spiritual, Culture and Civilization.

I continue to ask myself the question “Why do you want to fly?” which I once asked a boy. How often do we adults give “grades” to children not for questions, but only for answers. Maybe it makes sense to listen to their questions and then to us 🙂 Why? Probably to see the beauty of the sky, the beauty of the earth, and the beauty of ourselves.

And one more thing. . . . Our development and our education are also about supporting  two wings. Why? Because we have them. Welcome to fairy tale world!