Not so long ago, there was a great rain in the heart of America. The watery deluge started the day before and continued through the night. The next morning as the last drops fell, the swallows woke up to a waterlogged ground covered in drowning worms. They wiggled and squirmed trying desperately to survive.
Because this is a fable, the Swallows said to themselves, “Why would we eat mosquitoes and grasshoppers which are hard to catch when we could eat our fill of these worms? As long as we don’t stay too long, we won’t be caught by the Eagle.” And so the birds covered the ground, eating their fill of dying victims. Most birds, upon eating what they needed and nothing more, flew back into their trees to sing their songs for whimsey, territory, and romance.
Four birds did not return to the trees and kept eating worm after worm after worm until their stomachs were near bursting. Even as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky, they stayed on the ground eating more and more worms. They never saw the Bald Eagle swoop down and grab the four of them, two in each yellowed claw.
“Please have mercy! Don’t eat us!” Screeched the Cliff Swallow. As the Bald Eagle flew back to its nest, it replied, “Cliff S., I have children to feed. Mercy to you means hunger to them.”
“But, we would barely fill them up!” Chirped the Pacific Swallow. “Each of you is a good meal for my chicks.” The Bald Eagle replied.
“Don’t you feel ashamed taking weaker birds for food?” accused the Swallowtail. It kept trying to peck free. The Bald Eagle squeezed tighter and replied, “Swallowtail, why should I feel ashamed about taking weaker birds as food when you hunt for bugs and worms?”
“We are neighbors Eagle, would you just take them and let me go?” pleaded the Barn Swallow. The Bald Eagle replied, “Barn S. the only thing worse than clever lynxes are crafty liars.”
As the Father entered the nest, the baby birds cried out, hungry for today’s meal. The father gave his baby chicks the swallows. The two baby eagles ripped the bodies apart and then ate the flesh, worms bursting from the four bodies. The mother and father were smiling because their children were satisfied.
While the Father flew off again in search of more food the worms fell from the torn bodies to the nest. Between the gaps in the twigs, the worms fell from the nest to the ground. These worms said to themselves, “No one likes the swallows that never stop eating. Their greed can never be filled! It’s good to know that the Bald Eagle will give us justice when swallows get too greedy!”
An entertaining story with a lesson! You keep my interest with your variety of writing 🙂