CHAPTER TWO: {THE FLOCK}
The rain had stopped when Crow left her nest to go looking for the swifts. They were talkative birds and always had an opinion about what was happening, what had happened, and what might happen. She found them whirling high in the sky, dancing between evaporating clouds and patches of sunlight.
Crow perched awkwardly on the highest branch of the tallest tree, hoping to catch their attention. But soon her attention got lost watching their dance. They swooped, banked, circled, darted, plummeted, and soared. They were many and they were one.
And then they spotted her: “Crow!” called one swift. “Crow, crow, crow!” The others picked up the call. Most of the small birds whirled higher but a few swooped lower to investigate.
“Swift friends!” cawed Crow, “I bring important news!” Her loud voice startled even the curious swifts who had flown down close, but they quickly settled in nearby trees. “Tell us! Tell us” they chirped in a chorus. Crow bobbed up and down as she spoke, “Last night I had a disturbing dream—the mountain grew up through the forest floor, uprooting our homes. The noise was terrible. And then, when I woke up, there was a giant rock in my nest!” She flapped her wings for emphasis and a few swifts rose nervously and then landed again. “This rock was far too big for any of us to carry and drop. Have you had any strange dreams? Have you heard any news that could help me understand this mystery?”
All at once, the swifts began chattering:
“Silly Crow, the mountain is far from here.”
“What’s a dream?”
“Rocks can’t fly!”
“Rocks are just eggs that don’t know how to hatch!”
“I only know one bird that can carry heavy rocks. And she lives near the mountain—”
“Shhhh!”
“Owl!”
“Oh no, Owl!”
“Owl! Oh no! Owl! OWL! OH NO!”
All the other swifts picked up the cry and began to fly away, but the one perched nearest to Crow stopped them: “False alarm!” And again the other swifts picked up the call, “False alarm, false alarm! We’re ok, false alarm!”
In a quieter voice, the first swift continued, “Maybe you’ve angered the owl that lives on the high cliffs of the mountain?”
“Oh no, oh no…” chattered the nearby swifts, nervously circling and landing.
“No good comes from the mountain.”
“Fly away!”
“Stay in the forest!”
Crow was alarmed to learn that an owl might be involved. There was an ancient grievance between her people and the owls. How dare they drop giant rocks into her safe, warm nest!
The more Crow thought about owls, the angrier she got. You can never trust an owl, she muttered to herself. For one thing, they creep so silently. One could be right behind you and you’d never know it! And they hunt at night when all good birds should be asleep. And they speak in a language no crow can understand, so they can’t be very smart. And they don’t have any friends at all! No one to introduce them, no one to explain proper forest etiquette….
Crow was determined. “Thank you, friend swifts!” she called, “I know what I must do.” And she flew off to find her family and come up with a plan to protect themselves from these menacing, rock-dropping owls.
“Oh no, oh no!” some swifts kept calling, But others could be heard among them:
“But what is a dream?”
“Watch out for the mountain! Stay in the forest!
“Keep your eggs unhatched!”
“Keep pushing the wheel!”
“Push the wheel!”
“We’ve got to keep pushing the wheel!”
And with that the swifts rose up all together, higher and higher, circling against the sky. Crow turned to watch them and saw a perfectly round rainbow at the center of their dance. But when she moved her head, it disappeared. Oh, how she wished everything that troubled her would vanish so easily.