Old Birdy
By: Angela Texmo
illustrations by Alana Machnicki
There
once was a very funny old bird who'd been hanging around for ever, we'd
heard. She lived in a house that was made of old tin with a chimney that
stood tall and thin. It was perched up, way up, in a tree so high with
a beautiful view of the lands and sky.
Now, one day, Old Birdy was sitting at home. Sitting in her Tree House all quiet and alone. No songs to be singing, no music to her ears, cooped up in her room crying big blue tears.
"There once was a bird, who had never been heard. She had no voice so she had no choice, but try as she might, all day and all night no peep nor sound could ever be found". She cried to herself, "Oh why, oh why me? Why can't I sing like all the birds in my tree? They have beautiful voices so loud and so clear that everyone comes from afar just to hear the great music, the chirping and beautiful sound. The people they come from miles around…"
Now,
Toby and Buddy were going for a hike to see what was in the woods they
might like. To walk in the woods, to discover what's there is just what
is needed for a curious pair. Toby and Buddy like to see what is new in
the forest. There is lots you can see and do!
There are brown leaves and red ones, and dried sticks that crack, tall trees and short ones with branches that snap. Puddles and flowers and paths here and there that wind their way through the forest with care. But today, as they were hiking and skipping along they were stopped by the strangest sort of song. A kind of noisy hiccup…"Toby, what could that be? That noise coming from the top of that tree? It sounds like a croaking mixed in with a sob. Do you think it's a chipmunk or maybe a frog?"
"Oh,
wonders!" cried Birdy, "that's just what I need is an audience
to watch me. That's just fine, indeed! Away with you, lovelies, I'm just
an old goat who can't sing a song, not a chord, nor a note."
"Sing a song?" wondered Buddy…"Why how could that be with an old bird who's pretty, as pretty as she. With feathers all coloured in purple and blue, long green eye lashes and a yellow beak, too!"
"I can't sing a song, not a single little peep. I've never been able. I just sit and weep."
"That's silly," said Toby. "Your voice is so clear we've been following it all the way down here. Your words are expressive, so gentle and so kind. Did you know that your words rhyme all of the time?" "Well wonders, I didn't, now isn't that grand! Could I just maybe have the best voice in the land? I never had noticed that I speak in prose. It's so plain, it's so simple. That's the end of my woes." Birdy giggled, "I don't have to sing a great song when I've been a great poet and not known all along!"
Birdy was so happy, they had just made her day, when both Buddy and Toby had to get on their way. With their backs to her Tree House, they hiked up the path and could hear Birdy's voice echo all the way back.
"a tisket, a tasket
a big yellow basket
with flowers and leaves
and big honey bees.
Foxes in boxes and a bear with red hair
A clock on a rock and I haven't a care!"
Old Birdy had discovered that she spoke in rhyme and now all she does is talk all of the time! But Buddy and Toby don't seem to mind for to make someone happy is so very, very kind.
