A SHORT STORY I WROTE FOR MY DAUGHTER ZOE WHEN SHE WAS BORN: A TALE FOR ZOE Story By: Bernard Adams Early in the dawn hours in the Canadian Arctic, a snowy owl was having a pleasant dream in her deep sleep. She was dreaming of catching her next meal in the cold, cold desolate territory of her homeland. She loved to hunt small rodents, especially lemmings for her young ones and herself. This past winter was a slow season for the snowy owl population. They were unable to prosper because there were hardly any small furry animals to feast upon. She knew that if she did not eat within the next couple of days she would fall prey to other stronger and healthier snowy owls due to hunger and starvation. In the dawn hours of a cold summer’s morning when there was due and frost covering the barren Arctic tundra, there was an unnecessary movement underneath the snowy owl. Mrs. Owl arose from her comfortable bed to see what had woken her from her sleep. She was STARTLED, when, within the thickness of her plumage three furry little critters popped out still hugging each other, sharing comfort, warmth and security. To Mrs. Owl’s astonishment and happiness, she realized that her dream had given her hunger pains. This had caused her to waken and startle the furry creatures. In a sense, her dream had come true. Her next meal was within beak’s reach and she would not go hungry on this day. Instead her tummy would be full of fresh lemmings. Lemmings are the most nutritious and favourite meal for the snowy owl. They (lemmings) knew that there was no hope for them to survive this ordeal. The baby lemmings had awaken to the shivering, dew morning because their warm blanket, Mrs. Owl, had risen from her bed to find out what made her feel so uncomfortable. They were now in the clutches of their most feared predator, “The Great Snowy Owl”. The young ones were warned by their caring mother many times to fear this huge winter bird with its yellow piercing eyes, sharp needle like talons and a head that can turn in a full circle. As the young babies realized where they had been sleeping, they did not intend to seek safety, because they knew that if they ran out in the cold morning dew, they would surely perish. The only thing that they could do was to stay together hugging each other fearful of their enemy and the cold outside. As Mrs. Owl saw these little baby animals snuggling one another, she remembered how she us to hug and snuggle her own offspring. She remembered just recently, how Mr. Winter could not provide her with the necessary food to keep her babies alive. He had purposely taken away her two babies without giving them a chance to live. As the aging owl frowned upon the furry babies, she realized that the mother of these babies must be worried about their whereabouts and safety. Knowing deep within her heart, if she ate the babies for her own survival, the mother of these furry babies would feel the same hurt and pain of losing Loved Ones’. So, Mrs. Owl, knowing the feelings of hurt, pain and the loneliness of not being a parent, decided to protect the young one’s by keeping them safe and warm from the cold and other predators lurking outside for a easy meal. Mrs. Owl’s decision was to keep the babies safe until the temperature warmed up enough to seek their worried mother. This happened early the next day as the dew and fog rose faster than it had before. They had been greeted with the suns’ rays shining down heavily upon them. Mrs. Owl had to explain to the scared babies that they were in the safety of an understanding mother. Whose only concern was their safe return to their mother. All Mrs. Owl was asking of them for in return was that the babies had to remain calm and to tell the exact direction where they had come from. Mrs. Owl was pleased with the direction given to her by the baby lemming. As she began to lift the little rodents with her razor sharp beak, she realized that if they jiggled around to much she would accidentally pierce their tender bodies resulting in a serious injury or even death. As the young ones were nestled comfortably within the plumage once again, they could not believe that this was happening to them. They did not believe that this was ever possible, for the prey of its predator was being helped. This is when Mrs. Owl realized once again that her own babies use to do is once in awhile when she went on journeys to seek out food for the family. It had taken Mrs. Owl many hours to cover the large area of rough terrain from a great distance because this is where she usually hunted from. Any small moving animal that had the misfortune of being spotted by her could meet its death. The time came when Mrs. Owl was bound to give up searching for the babies mother when suddenly she, Mrs. Owl, she noticed several small animals standing on their hinder legs, squeaking in a high pitch calling out to the lost baby lemmings. As Mrs. Owl began to descend, her presence was being felt from the now frightened and terrified smaller animals below her. They began to burrow furiously into the earthy ground, seeking shelter. She, Mrs. Owl, did not intend to scare away these little furry little creatures. She was just doing what she thought was the best. When the other animals realized that the big, white bird which preyed upon them in the past meant them no harm. They, the lemmings became curious and mingled above ground. As they returned above ground, they saw a Miracle. Mrs. Lemming began to hop up and down with joy as she saw her lost babies scurrying off the back of her greatest enemy “The Great Snowy Owl”. When Mrs. Owl saw the tears of joy well up in the small eyes of the mother lemming, she realized what she had done was the right decision. As Mrs. Owl began to walk away and take flight to search for food and to return home to her empty nest, Mother Lemming scurried off to the bottom of her home to fetch what little food she had, to give to the rescuer of her babies. The other lemmings began to squeak loudly and this caused Mrs. Owl to look back. When Mrs. Owl saw what her new found friends were doing for her, she began to sob tears of happiness because of the kindness shown towards her. When Mother Lemming returned with a cheek full of berries, seeds and tree roots. Mrs. Owl wept again. This time the tears were for her babies which were lost during the cold winter months. Mrs. Owl now knew that she would live for a long time with the help of her new friends. She knew that deep within her heart she will once again have babies of her own. When Mrs. Owl had her fill of food, she flew in the direction of the last rays of sunshine and hearing the laughter and joy of Life which she left behind. This is the reason why lemmings are so plentiful at certain times of their living cycle, to give Thanks by sacrificing themselves to their friend and hero The Great Snowy Owl”. THE END To Daddies Baby Bubbles. Love from my heart to yours. Peace
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 08:37:18 +0000
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