Sparrow learns about trust

Sparrow learns about trust

Tanya Motiani

It was a cold, misty morning when Sparrow emerged from his egg. The air twitched with Fog as a diluted sun tried hastily to make its ascent beyond the clouds. For weeks Sparrow had been protected by the shell of his little egg, snug beneath Mother Bird’s feathers. But now it was time to face the world and begin life anew. But he couldn’t see the world on account of Fog and Cloud.
“What is the world like?” he asked his brothers and sisters.
“Foggy and cloudy,” they tweeted pessimistically back.
“Yes, but what is the world beyond like?”
“We don’t know yet but you could ask Mother.” They weren’t even interested.
“Mother,” Sparrow asked, “What is the world like?”
Mother considered Sparrow’s question. Sparrow was unlike any of her other offspring, asking impossible questions and gazing straight into her eyes with uncanny focus.
“The world is wonderful,” she replied, “Wonderful and weird and wild.”
“Wild?” Sparrow queried, feeling more than a little anxious now.
“Well, wild as in fascinating and chaotic, but beautiful.”
“Hmmm,” Sparrow murmured, not quite convinced. And then, trembling, “It sounds like a scary place, Mother Bird. Is it a scary place?”
“It can be,” she answered honestly. “Life can be very scary, but it can also be wonderful. It depends on the elements.”
Elements? Sparrow was really not sure what Mother Bird meant. So he hunkered down into the warmth of the nest, gazing at Fog and Cloud, snuggling against his brothers and sisters, while contemplating this new information. He spelled this new word out, trying it in his beak for the first time: e-l-e-m-e-n-t-s.

When Father Bird brought worms back to the nest after what felt like an age, Sparrow ate distractedly. He was still trying to make sense of what Mother had said earlier that morning. He decided to be brave and ask Father Bird the same question.
“Father Bird,” he insisted, “What is the world like?”
“Well Sparrow, that entirely depends on what you make of it.”
Well now, this answer really puzzled Sparrow and he held his head to one side, wondering what to ask next for some clarification.
“Father,” he tentatively asked, “How do I ‘make of it’?”
“Trust, my boy, you must trust that everything you do, and everything you think, will make a difference. It is all a matter of what you believe. And, of course, what the elements are doing.”
And, with those cryptic words, Father Bird flew off again, leaving Sparrow more perplexed than ever.

So, I need to trust, Sparrow mused. I need to trust and to believe in a world that is wonderful, weird and wild. Trust in a world that has elements. But how do I do that? Exasperated, Sparrow decided not to ask any more questions for now but to give it time and see what happened.

Within a few days, Sparrow had grown enough that, if he stretched his neck long and straight, he could peer over the top of the nest. He did so one cold, frosty morning and was blasted by Wind and Rain. That particular morning, Wind was icy and strong and Rain pummelled the nest, leaving it damp and dishevelled. Maybe Mother Bird was talking about Wind and Rain when she said the world could be wild. Instinct told Sparrow to quickly retract his neck and stay within the confines of the nest and so he did, figuring that his first peek at the world had to wait a little longer. And wait he did, for two more long dreary days, before trying again. This time he was met by sunlight and he positively basked in the warmth of his newfound friend, Sun.
“Hello, Sun,” he tweeted, “I am so happy to meet you.” Sparrow soon understood that Sun was very different to Fog, Cloud, Wind and Rain, and he stretched his wings and arched his back, testing the air out on his new baby feathers. Oh, that felt good. Maybe this is what Mother meant by the word wonderful.

Feeling confident, Sparrow is ready to explore the world. — drawing by Karyn Braveheart

Over the next few days, Father Bird continued to feed Sparrow and his brothers and sisters with worms and very quickly Sparrow felt himself and his feathers growing. In fact, Sparrow felt so big and brave that he was soon standing on the edge of the nest, flapping his wings and extending his legs. It was a strange sensation and, inside, he felt both excited and anxious for Father had said that the time was approaching when Sparrow must leave the nest and fly away. Was this what Mother Bird meant by weird? Sparrow thought so. When Breeze said he could help, Sparrow didn’t feel scared. He was not going to be intimidated by a gentle waft of air. In fact, he soon realised he could use Breeze to his advantage. He decided to test his wings. With a flap and a leap, (and a large serve of trepidation), Sparrow became airborne.
“I can fly,” he tweeted loudly to his brothers and sisters, “I can actually fly!”
His brothers and sisters tutted at him. One even laughed.
“Fool!” they cried.

But Sparrow did not hear them, so intent on his newfound skill was he. He wanted to make Mother Bird and Father Bird proud. He knew now that he need not be afraid of the elements. He could place his heartfelt trust in them and know and believe that this wonderful, weird and wild world around him would take care of him. More than that, Sparrow knew in his heart that he had also to trust in himself. Only then would he be able to get through life and all that the world had in store for him: the wild, the weird and the wonderful.

About Tanya – and June’s Writing Clan

Tanya is a member of June’s Writing Clan which gathers weekly at the Leopold
Community Hub on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria. Clan members inspire and motivate each other through participating in weekly writing warm-ups and through sharing progress on their main writing projects – both fiction and non-fiction. Tanya enjoys the outdoors and, when time permits, she loves to go birdwatching.