獵人受敎於鳥
One day a hunter was looking for a fox in the wilderness, when suddenly
he saw thousands of birds coming towards the river, and he lay quite
still and waited for them all to come.
The Yen Tzi, or Kind Birds, were talking together, and the hunter
listened. One asked, “Is all our company here?”
And the Leader Bird said, “No, little One-Month-Old and Two-Month and
Mrs. This-Year are not here yet.”
And the Leader Bird said to the Lookout Birds, “You must go after them
and help them to the river before five days. Our boats are dried and
ready to sail. It is growing cold and we must all go south together.”
So the Lookout Birds flew all around the country to hunt the lost
birds. They found one with a broken wing, and a little one with not
enough wing feathers to fly far, and one with a wound in his leg made
by a hunter, and others that were tired or very hungry. They found
every missing bird, and this great family of friends were soon all
together again.
But while the Lookout Birds were seeking the lost ones from their own
family, they heard another bird cry, “Save me! save me, too!” And they
stopped and said, “Who is calling? Some one must be in trouble.” They
flew to a lemon tree and saw a Tailor Bird with her leg all covered
with blood. The Kind Birds said, “Friend, how came you in such trouble?
What is your name and where do you live?”
The Tailor Bird said, “I live in the South Province, eight hundred
miles away. I came here to see my friends and relatives. Three of my
children are with me, and we were on our way home to the south. We had
gone sixty miles, when I asked my children to stop and rest in this
lemon tree, and now I do not even know where they are. I fear the
hunter got them. I am hurt, too, and I do not think I shall ever see my
home again. I shall lose my life here, I fear.”
The Yen Tzi heard all the Tailor Bird said. They talked together and
were sorry for her who had no one to care for her, for they knew her
children had been killed by the hunter. “If we do not save her life,
she will surely die,” they said.
So they asked, “Would you like to go with us? We know you eat different
food. We live on rice and fruit and a few bugs. We do not know that you
can live as we do. And we must ride on our boats, many, many hours.”
The Tailor Bird answered, “Yes, I will go gladly, and will eat what you
have and cause you no trouble.”
The Kind Birds helped the Tailor Bird to their company and put her in
one of their boats, and two or three birds fed her and cared for her
until she was well.
The hunter who told this story said, “I have learned many things by
watching and studying the habits of the Kind Birds. I will never kill
birds again.”
Ee-Sze (Meaning): In time of trouble, man should help not only his own,
but others.