The Sparrow’s Long Quest

Once upon a time in a faraway jungle, there lived a sparrow. Spring was coming and all the birds were building nests in preparation. He was a very hardworking sparrow, and every morning he would venture out far and wide to find and select the best twigs and moss for his new nest. One day he came upon a wonderful clod of mud that, in his opinion, was the perfect size for his future wife and children to cuddle up and rest against. He painstakingly picked it up in his claws, being careful not to damage it and carried it many miles, back to his new nest.

Lovingly he arranged the clod in his nest and, feeling immensely proud of himself, he flew around the jungle singing of his good fortune for all to hear,

“I found a clod of mud,

Which adorns my nest,

Like a flowering bud,

Come and see be my guest!”

Many admiring birds came to look at his nest and he preened whilst showing them his work.  He was showing some parakeets and parrots when the infamous crow flew up to his nest. Crow was a mean bird; he was large and aggressive and treated all the smaller birds like dirt. When the parakeets and parrots saw the crow they all flew away in fright, leaving sparrow alone with the crow.

Sparrow was a naïve and trusting person and showed the crow around his nest; the crow was impressed by the clod and told the sparrow, “You have a great nest, little sparrow, I like that clod will you give it to me?” the sparrow was shocked and said, “No, I won’t, I worked too hard on it, I could help you find another for your nest though.” The crow was mean and cunning and said, “Yes, little sparrow, help me find one.”  The sparrow set off to try to find one and once he left, the crow smirked cruelly and he greedily picked up the clod and took it to his own nest, disturbing and destroying sparrow’s nest as he did it.

The sparrow searched long and hard but could not find another clod, so he came back as evening fell. When he saw the ruined nest he was so shocked and saddened, he started crying. He cried until morning and then, he screwed up his courage and went around asking all the other birds what happened.

The doves told him how the crow had stolen his clod and destroyed his nest and the sparrow was overcome with rage. Angrily he flew to crow’s nest at the far end of the forest and said to the crow, “Give me back my clod or else!” The crow burst out into mocking laughter and flying out of his nest the crow dived at the sparrow and tried to peck his head with his enormous bill. The sparrow cried out in shock and dodged behind a tree trunk, barely surviving the attack. “Go back and rebuild your stupid nest, you puny sparrow and be grateful I didn’t kill you!” the crow sneered derisively.

Dear Readers, thank you for your continued support of our website. I am pleased to announce that “The Sparrow’s Long Quest” has now been published as a children’s book. You can find it here: https://www.readings.com.pk/book/2017986 

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