Bluebird

Once, many years ago, there was a tiny Bluebird who lived in a great, vast tree.  In the tree lived hundreds of other birds of all types; parrots and parakeets, swifts and thrushes, swallows and songbirds, gulls and doves.  And the Bluebird was one of the best loved of all the birds in the tree.

This was because the Bluebird was the best builder of nests in the whole tree.  She would help all the other birds build their nests each year, helping them to make safe homes for their families.  On this given year, all the birds in the tree wanted their nests built on the very same day.  The Bluebird agreed, not wanting to disappoint any of the other birds.

When the morning came, the Bluebird rushed to help her nearest neighbors, but as soon as she began on the first nest, the next closest birds cried "we need your help, we need your help."  She flitted over to their branch, but as she started, the next birds over cried "we need your help, we need your help."  And so it went on each branch she neared.  "We need your help, we need your help!"

That went on all day until no bird had finished their nests and the Bluebird was exhausted with no nest of her own.  She sat sadly on her branch, thinking of a way to help everyone.

As the sun rose the next day, she set out to help the nearest family of birds to her branch.  She helped them and when the cry "we need your help, we need your help" came, she told the family to go and to help those who needed it.  Bluebird also told them to ask that family to do the same.  She moved on to another nearby branch.  The birds did as she said.

By the end of the day, all the birds had nests, except Bluebird, who had saved no time for her own.  She flew back to her branch, but was startled to find a beautiful nest waiting for her.  All the other birds had come together to make it for her in repayment for her help and great idea.  All the birds in the tree sang and the Bluebird felt the love of her community.

Octopus and Lobster

Once upon a time, there was an octopus.  The octopus lived deep in the ocean among the rock and sand and kelp.  She greatly enjoyed her home and all the things it gave her the chance to explore, but over time, she found that she had explored all the objects and plants near her cave.

So she set out through the ocean to find new things to explore.  She swam and swam until she found a small reef, where she descended to explore.  There, sitting upon a large rock, she found an old lobster.  The lobster looked up at her and clack-clacked his pincers at her.  He said, "Who are you?"

She replied, simply, "I am an octopus looking for a place to explore."

"I see," said the lobster.  He clack-clacked at her again.  Clack.  Clack.

The octopus settled to the sea floor and began exploring.  As she touched the various objects, she changed the colors of her arms to match.  The lobster scuttled along behind her.  Clack-clack.

Finally, he said, "You can't do that."

"What?" asked the octopus.

"You can't do that."  Clack.  Clack.

The octopus, nervous, asked "Why not?"

The lobster, angrily, said, "Because I live near here and I want you to leave."  Clack-clack.

Nervously, the octopus said, "I'll try to be very careful.  I just want to look and explore."

The lobster angrily snapped at one of the octopus' arms.  Clack.  Clack-clack.  The octopus danced away. The lobster advanced, continuing to snap at the octopus.  Clack.  Clack.  CLACK!

The octopus, pushed to her limits released ink and swam backwards, too high for the lobster to attack her.  Sighing to herself, she moved on, determined to not let the lobster ruin her exploration.  Letting the tides take her, she moved through the sea, settling on a grand, colorful reef, filled with corals, stones, and fish.

She settled in to this new home, allowing her arms to play through all the many colors of the corals and resting easily with the fish who darted and played.  She allowed thoughts of the lobster drift away like loose kelp and lived happily in her new home.