A New Forest To Conquer The following is a story that I hope to someday tell my grandchildren. I want it to serve as a means of instilling in them the courage and dexterity that I have somehow found within myself to make it through this wonderful and sometimes very painful journey. Once upon a time, high, high up in a tree, there was a birds nest and in that nest there was a special, little egg . The mother bird worried and fussed and fussed and worried over her little egg, saying, Oh my, this little egg cannot possibly be big enough for my baby bird. Finally, the mother birds wait and worry over the little egg came to an end and her baby hatched.
Unfortunately, the egg had indeed been far too small for her baby bird; the little bird was terribly sick from not having enough room to grow. Not sure how to care for the little one, which they named Polly, the mother bird and father bird took their new baby to the Great Owl . Thanks to the Great Owls wisdom and patience, the little bird lived, but, despite his tender care, Pollys wings would not grow. The mother bird refused to believe that her darling baby, that she had worried and waited for, for so long, would never fly.
As Polly grew, her mother worked with her everyday, in hopes of teaching her daughter to fly. Eventually, their hard work paid off and, although she was a little slow and awkward, Polly finally learned to fly. As she grew bigger and surer of herself, Polly wished to play with the other birds her age. She tried to fly and play with them, but they did not want her in their games. They teased and mocked her and said she was too slow.
Polly wished the other birds understood how hard she had had to work, just to be able to fly at all. But that did not matter to the other birds; they only wanted the strongest, fastest birds for their games . So, Polly went home, heartbroken, and made up her own games to play. When it came time for all the young birds to begin school, Polly had no choice but to join them. Afraid that her sensitive little daughter might be hurt by the other young birds, Pollys mother offered to let her go to a special school, but Polly refused. She was determined to keep up with the normal birds and find a way to fit in.
In the beginning, the other birds made fun of Polly, but it turned out that the games she had made up to occupy her, made Polly much better than the others in school. Her experience with playing with twigs made her the best nest builder in her class and, even though she flew slower than the others, the hide and seek games she played with her mom made her the fastest at finding worms. Soon, the other birds were so busy trying to keep up with Polly; they forgot to make fun of her. As time passed, all of the young birds started to become aware of their unique appearances and some traits became more desirable than others. It turned out that small, delicate wings became quite the fashion and soon the little boy birds began to notice that Pollys wings were especially small and especially delicate.
It didnt matter anymore that her wings made her slow; now, they made her pretty. At first, Polly was proud that her special wings were finally being appreciated and she made sure to show them off every chance she got. However, it didnt take long for Polly to get tired of all the attention she was getting. Many of the boy birds cared more about Pollys wings than they cared about Polly and, after awhile, they seemed to forget that she was attached to her wings at all. Some of the boy birds were mean and nasty to her when she refused to show off her wings. Before long, Polly didnt want to be around the boy birds .
Then, one day, as Polly was flying around by herself, trying to stay away from all the other birds, she met a very special boy bird. This bird, whose name was Petey, wasnt as handsome as the other boy birds but he was very nice to Polly. Polly and Petey soon became best friends. Neither of them liked flying around with the other birds and they soon began spending more and more time flying alone together. Pollys mother had gotten used to the handsome, well- mannered boy birds that Polly used to fly with. She really didnt like Polly spending so much time with Petey and she began to make Polly stay at home when they wanted to go flying together.
But it was too late; Polly and Petey had spent so much time together and knew each so well, that they had already fallen in love. The more Pollys mother tried to keep them apart, the more Polly wanted to see Petey, until; finally, she began sneaking away from home so that they could go fly together . Time passed and Polly continued to become more and more attached to Petey. Then, just when they thought they couldnt be happier, spending nearly everyday with each other, school ended and it was time for them to go out and build their own nests. Although, Polly and Petey loved each other very much, they were not ready to share a nest with one another. They had very different ideas, then, about how they wanted their nests built.
Even though it was very painful for them to separate, they went off in different directions, seeking the best method to build a nest. Pollys parents decided that she should go to a bigger forest, not too far from home, where she could learn how to gather twigs and they would still be nearby if she needed their help. Peteys parents sent him to a very large forest, very far from home, where he would be forced to rely on his own instincts to guide him in learning to gather twigs and food. Even though she was not very far from home, Pollys new forest was much bigger than the small woods where she grew up. Polly loved the bigger forest. There were more birds there and it was easier for her to blend in amongst them.
In her old woods, there were very few different kinds of birds and the predators there kept a close eye on all the birds movements making it very hard for Polly to fly freely and enjoy her beautiful home . The longer Polly lived in her n …
