Cawlin leaves me to be chewed up by the old crow saying "I'll eat some plums from further down, while you and Mother have your chat. I'll see you later at the island!"
Mother Cleverbrain steps along her grey-goat pedestal, and the goat comes closer. I feel dwarfed. Then the goat-crow mountain starts croaking some answers to my questions.
Mother Cleverbrain: "The easiest way to get to India as a bird would be to fly like the geese. They use air currents to propel themselves, and could easily get from here to the Danube today before the sun is down. Migrating ducks can fly just as fast. "
'Wait! what's a mi..grating bird?' asks Twistedfingers junior
"Birds who migrate spend the spring and summer here, and then fly across the globe in the fall until they reach the side with warm weather when it's winter here. They don't have a forever home like you and Twistedfingers do. So, Narcissus could fly to India if he was healthy and in good shape, which he is not" answers the old crow in a matter-of-fact tone.
I step back looking at my nicely preened feathers. I see nothing betraying weakness, but she is right. I could not fly that far.
Me: "I like your frankness, Mother, if I may call you so. While I have not been indulging in leftovers from humans recently, I have not flown much. Also, domestic birds pay with their freedom for their forever home. The forever home is more often than not a small prison slightly larger than the bird in which she lays all her eggs, which she is forced to produce in a year. At the end of the year she loses her life. Or if they are not egglayers, birds pay with the meat on their bones that's forced to grow as fast as possible. Instead of growing for a year, like you do, junior, you'd become as fat as your mother in a bit over a month. You'd live a short life that's optimized to produce as many eggs or as much meat as possible while using as little food as possible. You were lucky to be allowed to live with your mother. A productive farm would never have a chicken with one chick or leave chicken or ducklings with their mothers in the first place. Furthermore, even though it is known that bread and chips and the like make ducks (and other waterbirds) sick and too fat to fly, humans keep feeding the stuff to us. They also feed it to their own children, who develop plenty of problems of their own. Staying healthy and doing the right thing is a challenge for everyone."
I've replied defensively and ruffeled lots of feathers! Twistedfingers, who is otherwise a placid hen, now justifies her life choices like most females under attack.
Twistedfingers: "I am a respectable four year old hen, just a little on the chubby side. Junior is my first chick. I decided to have him when I heard them mention soup recepies when discussing my lovely self. Many humans have a single child, nowadays, and they don't have the hardship of having goats step on their toes. People also don't turn women who don't produce enough eggs or choose not to have children into soup when they get fat enough. If they did, most women would be soup. As it is the existence of junior saved my life only temporary. I happen to be owned by a family with a heart, but even they eat chicken soup at times, and sometimes they travel and leave us in the care of people who neglect us or give us away to strangers. So, who knows what next year will bring."
Mother Cleverbrain: "I was simply making a statement, Narcissus. And, yes, you can call me mother. All birds do. I am old and wise enough to be kind to everyone. Now, do you need any information or have you just come to lecture us, and judge Twistedfinger's weight?"
Me: "I am sorry for side-tracking the conversation. Please, tell me about getting to India."
Mother Cleverbrain: "Well, India is more than 7000 kilometers away. On a good strong, current a migratory bird can cover 100 kilometers in a hour. It's about as fast as the metal killers or cars as the humans call them can go. If they fly at that speed for 7 hours straight each day they could reach India in 10 days. However, keep in mind that currents have direction. They can help you go faster or slow you down. You also have to feel how the air rises when you fly. Flying is a bit like swimming: you can swim with or against the current, and you have to let the water lift you to swim. Cawlin, Penelope and Athena can fly at maybe 40 kilometers an hour, but we are not migratory birds. This means we fly to reach different feeding places and can cover maybe 60 kilometers in a day. So, let's assume you'll travel 60 kilometers each day. The Bega cannal is about 120 kilometers long, which means you could reach the Tisa river in two days. The distance you have to cover on the Tisa is some dozen kilometers, and so let's say it takes you half a day to reach the Danube. Then the Danube is long, and you go for maybe 1000 kilometers along it before you reach the Delta and then the Black Sea. This means you are looking at more than two weeks of travel. However, if you catch a ride on a truck it could be a day or two. From the Black Sea you'd have to hitchhike onto a big boat. It's too far otherwise. This is the route by water. Is that the way you plan to take?"
Me: "Yes, and, thank you,... you've lost me a bit."
Mother Cleverbrain: "I am a mother and I am glad when I can help my son or his friends. You thank me by doing what I say and by staying alive. To do so you must be aware of your strengths and your weaknesses. You are farsighted, Cawlin is clever with tools, Athena has wisdom and ability to handle the dark, and Penelope, Cawlin and Philip are survivors. All strengths have to be used correctly to compensate for your weaknesses. You, Narcissus, cannot live on a tree. Cawlin, Penelope, Philip and Athena cannot live in water for long. You must be aware of each other’s limitations in different environments. Cawlin will take care of you the best he can. He is a survivor, but you all have to help him and each other. Think about this. "
Me: "I will do as you ask, and thank you again, Mother Cleverbrain. I will come back tomorrow. It was nice to meet you, Edwina."
Mother Cleverbrain: "And, tomorrow, spend some time with the little human. Show him around your island. He'll learn some things from you and you'll learn some things from him. I want him to learn from different beings, different things. If he is raised right, he might be part of a better future. Although, I sometimes hold out little hope of such a future. However, it's our duty to keep trying. "
Edwina: "Nice to meet you, too! I might come along to see that island of yours. I hear it has some tasty grass. I could help you look after of the human kid for an afternoon. We have an uphill battle in teaching him right from wrong. His own father stares all day at a shinny screen and when he lifts his eyes he is annoyed at everything around him, and blames us. He says that goat curry and fried chicken are tasty. He'll likely think the same about fried duck. Of course, the father is American. This means he's never seen a cow up close, and likely wouldn't know one end of the cow from the other, but he thinks he needs cow meat to survive. He does not have the guts to kill us himself, and can definitely not kill a cow, or really eat goat. We are too tough for him! However, he likes to spread horror imagines around. Goat curry, indeed! I give him a good chase every time he wants to catch me, and last time he tried to put medicine down my throat, I sneezed, and it all went into his mouth instead. The faces he made!"
Caprioara who has not spoken before intervenes, "we should not speak ill of the little one's father. It's the world they live in. It often feels it's us against that world. Almost all people stare at the shinning phone things. The father did almost twist my neck the other day. It seems that after he spends all day sitting still, he needs to move, and does so by chasing us around, and by pulling us and pushing us as fast as he can. We give him a good chase, though."
Me: Any other advice mother? Anything else?
Mother Cleverbrain: "Before you leave, you should talk to other birds who have made this journey. Start with Cherub. She is no Cherub but she is a Cherug. That is a Saker Falcon (Falco Cherug)."
junior: "Wow! The falcon! I spent all summer hiding from her. Those claws! That beak! I tremble only when I think of it"
Mother Cleverbrain: "She lost her good friend Icarus last year. Icarus was grabbed by a Falconer and taken to the Middle East.
Narcissus: "I see..."
Mother Cleverbrain:"No, you don't. But in time, perhaps, you'll understand that birds must not forsake each other. Sakers are the national bird of three countries, yet they are endangered. Birds will not survive by their wits alone they will need buy in from humans. You will need to forge a bond with humans. You must find a way to show humans what beauty and talent we bring to the world. "
Me: "Where I can find Cherub?" I meekly ask.
Mother Cleverbrain:
“Like Athena, a nest she will never make
Someone’s old home she will gladly take
Search for an old stick nest in a tall tree
where lived a stork, or raven previously.
Ask Athena to provide a gift rat
Make sure it’s well fed and fat
Or else, what you had in mind
May not be what you will find
A hungry unknown raptor
May end up being a captor”
The interview is over. Mother Cleverbrain flies away from her pedestal on Edwina, and roosts on a chimney instead. As I look back at the old bird, she suddenly seems worried and already frail. The goat has stopped as if she is embarassed by this display of weakness. But Edwina is getting old too. I wonder if we'll find them back here if and when we return from India. I hope we do, because they are remarkable.
Edwina walks slowly to the little human, and sits near him as he plays in the sand.
"It's getting dark and I do not want him to be afraid" she explains.
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