Saturday, December 3, 2011



King Of The Blackbirds

High up in an old oak tree, there lived a large family of crows.
Jerome was the smallest, though not the youngest of the birds born that year.
Nearly all of the others had learned to fly some time ago.
There were three who couldn't,
then two,
and then finally,
only Jerome remained.

It took quite a while more.
It was very difficult,
and yes, scary for him,
but eventually it did happen.

“I'm doing it! I'm really doing it!” Jerome thought.
From his family's tree came the voices of his parents which rang out with joy,
“You did it, Jerome! You did it!”

Then came a different voice, closer to Jerome, but far enough away so that the parents couldn't hear.
It was his oldest brother, “I guess you did figure out how to use those wings. It's about time.”
Then other voices joined in, “Yeah, it took you long enough.” and “I'll say.”

But Jerome didn't hear any of it,
not even the laughter which accompanied his unplanned double somersault landing.
He was just too excited. “I really did it.” He said once more, this time out loud.

Jerome kept practicing until there was no more light and his flying got better and better.
He did have some trouble with his landings though.

The next day, at first light before most of the others were even awake,
Jerome began practicing his take offs and landings.
After a while some of the other crows noticed. The older ones all smiled,
but many of the younger ones laughed because Jerome seemed so serious.
But he didn't care. He was happy to be flying. So, so , happy.
Nothing that they could say or do would ever bother him again, he thought to himself.
Late in the morning when the sun was nearly straight overhead, he did have to rest.
He was very tired, but very pleased. He could fly.

As he sat on a tree branch, smiling to himself, Jerome saw something move in the grass.
It was a worm. Jerome dove down to the ground.

But instead of an early lunch, he ended up with a beak full of dirt.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw what he thought was the shadow of a hawk.
Jerome took off so fast he was sure he left behind several feathers and flew directly into a fence post.

He flopped onto the ground and would have laid there for a long time if he hadn't remembered the hawk.
The thought of it made him jump. His eyes raced upward searching for the danger,
but all that he saw was a small sparrow.

The other young birds saw everything and burst into laughter.
Jerome just sat there- sad and angry at the same time.
He remained motionless for a long time. He stared down at the ground, trying to ignore the others.
At that moment, he felt as though he couldn't do anything right.

When he finally got up, he thought it might be a good idea to walk for awhile.
It wasn't long before he came upon a large, yellow and black butterfly.
Jerome had always liked watching butterflies, for as long as he could remember.
He knew that some birds liked to eat butterflies, but he had never even thought about that.
They were so beautiful and fun to watch. It seemed to him that butterflies danced through the air as they flew. This one was very prettiest and most graceful he had ever seen.
He didn't want her to leave, but couldn't do anything about that so he jumped up and began to follow.

Jerome didn't notice the massive mud hole just ahead, and stumbled right into it.
He was covered with muck from beak to tail. His siblings realized what was about to take place,
and began laughing even before anything had happened.
Jerome was actually looking up at them when he fell into the mud.
Some of them laughed so hard that they started to fall out of the tree.

At some other time, Jerome might have actually laughed at himself.
He understood being completely absorbed in something and not noticing anything else.
But on this day, it was just too much.
Everything that had happened during the last two days flashed through his mind.
He recalled how he mistook the shadow of a tiny sparrow for that of a hawk.
He remembered how he then flew into a fence post.
He thought about the worm that got away, and how terrible the dirt had tasted.
He even remembered his crash landing the day before, after finally learning to fly,
and this time he heard the sound of the others laughing at him.
Each memory made him more and more sad. Jerome began to cry.

He wanted his mama and daddy.
He wished he could go home and curl up in his nest, but he didn't want anyone to see him like this.
He didn't know what to do or where to go.

But just then, off in the distance, Jerome heard a gaggle of geese approaching.
They seemed to know where they were going. And it looked like they were in quite a hurry.
“They must really want to get there.” He said to himself and then continued,
“It must be a wonderful place.”
He then sighed to himself, “I wish I could go with them.”

Without really thinking about it, Jerome took off to follow them.
He heard the his big brother calling, but couldn't understand even one word.
Jerome kept going. He was flying faster and higher than he ever thought he could.
After a while though, Jerome felt tired, very, very tired.
The geese were getting further ahead. Too soon he was totally exhausted, but he didn't give up.
“As long as I can see them,” he said to himself, “I'll continue to fly.”

It wasn't long though, before the entire flock had vanished from his view.
He twisted his neck, straining to see, but there was nothing.
They were gone. And at that instant, so was the last of his energy.
His wings were no longer flapping. And he didn't even have the strength to keep his wings out and glide. Jerome thought he knew what about to happen, but he was so tired.
He just needed to rest. He closed his eyes and folded his wings.

As Jerome felt himself falling, he thought, “Only falcons go this fast.
I wonder if my feathers are falling off?”

As he continued to drop, Jerome thought about all the things that had happened in his life.
He thought about his mama and daddy.
He even remembered some happy times with his brothers and sisters.
Jerome wished that he was back at home.

But then for some reason, he didn't know why, he thought about falcons again.
He thought about how they dive down and open their wings just above the ground.

Then he felt something really strange. He could no longer hear or feel the air rushing around him.
Everything was still and quite. It seemed as if he was standing on the ground.
And then he recognized a familiar sound, a stream, very close by. Jerome slowly opened his eyes.

He was standing in the middle of a beautiful green meadow. Jerome wondered if he might be dreaming.
And then he wondered if maybe he was..., no. Everything was just so beautiful.
There was a small stream just a few steps away. He took a drink.
The water was sweet, so, so delicious.
And then, down on the ground near the edge of the stream, a worm came out of the dirt.
“This must be my lucky day.” He thought.

Just as he was about to swallow the worm, Jerome realized that he was being watched.
He looked up. All around him were small black birds. They looked a little bit like crows,
but even the largest of them were smaller than he was.

Jerome had never seen any birds quite like these. And they had never seen a crow.
There was silence. The entire flock seemed frozen.
They had seen Jerome land with his eyes closed.
They thought he must be some kind of giant, magical blackbird.

After a very long time, one of the largest of the little birds cautiously stepped forward and bowed his head low. His name was Cedric. He looked up to see if Jerome seemed in any way angry.
The little blackbird spoke, “Oh great one, forgive me for being so bold...”
He paused to study this giant blackbird's face once more.

Jerome couldn't keep himself from smiling. No one had ever spoken to him like this.
“It is I who should apologize.” He said, “ I really didn't mean to drop in this way.
I'll be off just as soon as I catch my breath.”

“Oh, No, No, No!” Cedric almost shouted, then stopped
“I mean," He paused again and then slowly continued, "We wouldn't think of trying to tell you what to do but,
if you could find it in your heart to honor us with your presence for just a bit longer...”

Jerome wasn't sure what Cedric was talking about, but he thought that they wanted him to stay.
“You want me to stay?” He asked.
“Oh, Yes, Yes, Yes! I mean- if you don't mind- we'd love to have you, Sir.” Said Cedric.

“Well, I suppose I could stay for awhile.” replied Jerome, and he did stay for quite a long time.

Because the little birds thought that Jerome was such a special bird, they began to treat him like a king.
His every wish was their command. In fact, it wasn't long before the blackbirds began to call him
“Your Highness” which is something that people say to kings and queens.

At first, Jerome felt a little uncomfortable with all of the attention and special treatment,
but after awhile he actually got used to it.

There was one of the little birds who didn't think that Jerome was so remarkable.
Her name was Sarah. She was one of the smallest of the blackbirds,
but she didn't seem to be afraid of anything, not even Jerome!

Jerome was actually glad that there was someone in the flock who didn't think of him as their king.
He enjoyed talking to her, even though she wasn't always nice to him.

It took a long time, but Jerome and Sarah became good friends.
She was the only one who believed Jerome when he said that he was just an ordinary bird.
Jerome told her about his family and about his life before he came to live with the blackbirds.

The truth was that Jerome liked Sarah very much, and he thought that she really liked him too,
but neither of them talked about that.

Jerome was very happy-
most of the time.
But there were moments when he would think about being back at home and suddenly become sad.
He missed his mom and dad. Jerome wished that he could see them, but he didn't know how to get home.
Back when he followed the geese, he hadn't paid attention to which way he was flying.

At night, Jerome would look up at the stars and remember other times when he had looked up at the stars.
He used to ask his parents questions about the stars, about the world, and about things they remembered when they were his age. Sometimes his questions would cause his brothers and sisters to laugh.
That used to bother him, but he wasn't angry with them anymore. Jerome knew that they just didn't understand anything about being different. He knew that everyone was different in one way or another.
He also knew that in other ways all birds were very similar.

Jerome would often tell the blackbirds that everyone was good at some things, and not so good at others.
“I love thinking about things.” He said one day and then added, “That's because it's easy for me.
I'm a dreamer.” Jerome smiled, paused for a moment, and then looked more serious and went on.
“Did you know that there are things which are hard for me? Doing something new is often very difficult for me.

It took me forever to learn to fly. My brothers and sisters used to tease me.
And there were times when I really did give up, for awhile.
Sometimes I cried because I was afraid that I'd never learn to fly.”

The blackbirds never believed stories like this. They thought that Jerome just said these things
so that they wouldn't feel bad when they had trouble doing something new.
Cedric would usually say something like, “M' Lord, you are too gracious.”
Sarah would smile because she knew that Jerome always tried to speak the truth.

Often when Jerome would talk with the blackbirds, it was by the wide quiet part of the stream.
That's where he was on that particular day.
He had been talking about how it was better to try something and make a mistake than to never try at all. “Many birds never try anything new because they are afraid they may look bad,
but that's the biggest mistake of all. Even when we do make a mess of things, we can learn from it.
We can become better, smarter, and stronger IF we just figure out what it is we need to work on.
Think about that for awhile and we'll talk later.”
The blackbirds all thought that Jerome was very wise and he was.
When one of the birds asked how he became such a good speaker, Jerome answered,
“Well, a big part of it is knowing when to stop talking.”

A little later after all the others had left, Jerome looked down and saw his reflection
in the almost perfectly still pond below. He smiled at himself. Jerome liked who he saw.
He looked up to the top of a nearby hill. He took off. It was one of his favorite places.
From up there, Jerome could see a long way in every direction. It wasa good place to think.
It was also the perfect place to appreciate all the beautiful things that surrounded him.
At that moment, Jerome was watching a magnificent cloud and thinking to himself that he could be happy growing old here.

Just then, his attention was suddenly pulled away. Off in the distance, Jerome heard a familiar sound.
It was the geese!
For a moment he was stunned and did nothing.
He was certain that it was the very same group.
He couldn't believe it, but then before he was even able to think, Jerome found himself up in the air.

He had nearly caught the flock when he realized that he had forgotten to say good bye.
He looked at the geese ahead, and then down at the blackbirds in the meadow below.
He was worried that he might not be able to catch the geese, but knew he had to go back.
Jerome quickly flew back to the meadow. He glided low over the group and called out,
“I have to go, but I'll try to come back soon.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sarah looking up at him. Jerome had to land, at least for a moment.

He stood there wanting to say so many things to her, but couldn't seem to speak.
Finally, as he was about to say, “I'll miss you.” some other words flew out of his beak.
“Come with me.” he said and then smiled, a little surprised with himself.
He was looking down at the ground.
Slowly, he look up to see Sarah smiling back at him.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked Sarah who then looked over at Cedric who was smiling bravely.
And the two took off together to catch the geese.
Sarah remembered the story Jerome that had told her about following the geese before,
and decided to pay careful attention to all of the notable landmarks she saw,
and to the direction they were traveling, and where the sun was.
They both flew faster and higher than they ever had before.
Neither knew what awaited them, but they were glad that they were together.

The End
Of
The Beginning




I hope you enjoyed the story. I'd like to invite you to illustrate and design your own version of this book. You are also encouraged to think about what might happen when Jerome and Sarah arrive back in the land of his birth. I do hope that things go well for these two, but you never know.

The type of Creative Commons license I have selected allows for building upon this work as a non-commercial application. You may publish your own version online using the same kind of Creative Commons License. You will need to credit the original source of the material. That would include the title,
King Of The Blackbirds and my name, Craig Parks.

If you wish to actually publish and circulate a print, e-version or maybe an animation on your own site, just make certain that you understand what is needed to be in compliance with this particular Creative Commons License. If you are unsure about that, check out their web site ( creativecommons.org ) and if after that,
you are still not clear or if you'd like to try producing a commercial version of the book then contact me.

If you send your illustrated version to this story or a sequel to kingoftheblackbirds@gmail.com,
I will load it onto this site. It's possible to set things up so that you have a link to the original version of King Of The Blackbirds with your sequel following it. Then your friends won't have to search for your version if there is are many versions on the site. I will try to get things up as quickly as possible, but if there many responses, it could take longer.

Have fun.

CraigParks








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