Animal Dilemmas – Bull Blue Bird
Short Story
The Blue Bird left the Goats behind to the wolfs and flew away and out of the woods to play with the life of another animal. The Bird had no plan or agenda, no home or destination. Its only hobbies were flying and toying with the fates of others.
It searched the forest with keen eyes, rested by watering holes in search for naive animals. The Blue Bird’s charms had deceived many forest dwellers and its legend had traveled far. From ant colonies to wolfs and bears the Bird always found a way to make fools of them, or worse.
Many turned around and ran the moment they saw it. Knowing that few can resist its tales reluctant to test their heads against fate. The Bird traversed the entire forest several times but for several days it could not find another victim.
That was when it decided to fly out of the woods and venture into the giant’s world. It was cautious and only traveled at night. During the hight of day it rested in trees and abandoned nests. It was the Blue Bird’s utmost dream to stand against a giant and overcome. But it knew its limitation and threaded carefully.
It had been resting on a large lonely tree outside a sizable giant settlement. The largest structure in view was a circular building on the outskirts of the town. When it arrived in the tree the coliseum was quiet and empty. In the following days giants came in and out of it, decorating it with flowers and doing repairs.
Then the vehicles arrived each loaded with a large metal cage and in each cage a bull. Not just any bull. The bulls that were unloaded in the smaller outer confinement were specially breaded for the corridas. A feast that took place once a year in which giants fought bulls.
The Blue Bird could see the general idea of the festivities. It waited for the night and flew over to the bull cages. It sat on the fence for a long time until its eyes adjusted to the darkness gently soften by lanterns.
It looked around and chose the biggest Bull. In the Bull the Blue Bird saw its long awaiting opportunity to kill a giant. It landed at the edge of its cage and waited. The Bull was sleeping. At break of dawn before any giant was in sight the Bird flew to the back of the bull behind its ear. The Bull awoke with a start and kicked and pushed in all direction in the tiny cage.
The Bird did not stir. Instead it started talking to the Bull. It didn’t know the Bull’s language but spoke goat mixed with cow judging it was the closest thing it knew. And it was true the Bull could catch certain words that translated easy from its cousins’ languages.
But the words mattered little. What mattered most was the way the Blue Bird spoke. It was more singing that speaking. Its voice was as sweet as honey, it went up and down like the wind and made the Bull’s rock-hard heart melt.
The Bull stopped kicking and rushing from one fence to the other. All its life the Bull had endured harsh condition, the same dry food, cage after cage, the heavy punches from its giant master designed to make it angry. For a first time the Bull heard someone speaking to it with tenderness and affection. All its muscles relaxed and the sky cleared, the cage became bigger. The Bull’s soul flew.
The Blue Bird sang in its ear for hours the entire day. It only stopped when the giants rattled the cage and fed the Bull.
The Bird new many songs and sang them all to the Bull to befriend it. For several days the Bird never left the cage, the Bull protected it and helped it hide from the giants.
Then the day came that the Bull was to fight for its life against a giant. Not any giant but a giant that has dedicated his life to killing bulls. The Bird flew to the edge of the coliseum and observed how the other bulls were put to the sword. Then it flew back to the Bull’s cage and sang more. But this time it sang a very specific song.
It sang about a great giant trying to full the Bull with a red clothe and explained to the Bull that the clothe was only a distraction so the giant can stab it and take its life. It sang that if the Bull ignored the clothe and followed the giant, and skewed it on its horns the Bird will stay with the Bull and sing to its ear forever.
When the Bull entered the coliseum the sand was stained with its brother’s blood. Thousand of giant around it shouted in unison a horrible song, not like the Bird’s sweet voice. The Bull stood still and remembered the last sweet song the Bird sang and looked up. The Bird was sitting on the high fence of the coliseum, smiling.
When the giant waved his great red clothe the Bull ignored it and charged straight for him unstoppable. The giant flew in the air like a feather, pierced by the Bull’s horns. The Bull looked up and the Bird was smiling so it charged again and again until the giant was no longer breathing.
Many giants with red clothes and swords surrounded the Bull and pulled it way from its victim. The Bird was still smiling. The Bull charged and charged and giants stabbed and stabbed. With its last breath the Bull looked up and saw the Bird smiling.
The Bull collapsed on the ground and Bird flew away.
next story: ANIMAL DILEMMAS – BUTTERFLY BULL
previous story: ANIMAL DILEMMAS – BLUE BIRD GOATS
all stories: Animal Dilemmas
photograph by Leeroy
