A finch mother bird had three chicks. She had colourful feathers. When her chicks were born, she took great care of them till they were old enough to fly. When they wanted to fly around, she would accompany her young ones.
She would tell her children that they were too young to fly too far. So, they would fly in and around the garden area where they lived.
The young ones too had grown into beautiful finches. They looked like their mother.
The mother finch would always advise her children not to venture too far, but one of the siblings had other plans.
She would often dream of flying to far-off areas and see the world.
She decided to talk to her mother about her plan.
“I want to see the world. I don’t want to live at one place,” she told her mother.
Her mother was not okay with the idea of allowing her child to travel too far. “I don’t think it is okay to travel too far,” the mother bird said.
The little bird was sad. For days, she remained sad, not talking much to anyone.
The mother bird was also saddened by whatever was happening. She did not like to see her child so sad. She thought about it for many days.
One day, she decided to let the little bird go and see the world.
“I cannot see you so sad. You have my permission to go and live the life you want,” said the mother bird.
The little finch left the very next day. She flew over lakes, mountains, meadows and glaciers. She flew over orchards and gardens. She saw a whole new world and the beauty left her mesmerised. She saw humans in the fields, on roads and homes, doing their work. She was happy by her decision.
After flying for hours, she felt thirsty. As she was flying over a populated city, she didn’t find any water. She thought she might lose her consciousness. She kept flying but didn’t see any water anywhere.
She lost all strength and thought she might fall to the ground. Just then she saw something sparkling in the sunlight. She looked carefully. She couldn’t believe her eyes. That was a shallow bird bath full of water under a peach tree.
Her happiness knew no bounds. She quickly flew down.
She drank as much as she could.
“Thank you so much. God bless you,” she prayed in her heart for the family which had kept the water for the birds.
She then rested on the peach tree for some time till she was ready to fly again.
