Outstanding Stories » Wings of Freedom

“Wings of Freedom” is one of the outstanding stories (junior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Sameera Parveen, New Middle East International School, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Wings of Freedom

It was a pleasant day and I was about to go in search of food, when I saw my friends coming. They were much tensed, and when I asked them what happened, they said, “Oh friend, we heard some dangerous vultures are coming from the North towards our territory and are in search of their prey.” When I heard this I too got worried. “Oh, no.. It is very dangerous indeed. I have my nest full of eggs, how will I protect them?” This was a very precarious situation. Being the leader of my clan, the Baya weaver birds, I decided to take care of this predicament and to handle it efficiently. As our habitats in the tropical forests had been destroyed, very few of us are surviving now.

“My dear friends let us not panic. We should act with prudence to face this.” We decided to go to the King of winds for help. We approached him who sat behind a large cave in the forest. We told him of our problem. Upon listening to us he ensured that he would take care of us. He told us to return to our nests and take care of our eggs and young ones. In case of any danger, he would send us signals which will be the whistling sound. We all agreed upon his kindness. With a great relief in our hearts we retraced our path.

Some of our friends were in apprehension. What if the king of winds sleeps? Then who will alert us of the danger. So let us also go and talk to the King of Rain. All of them gave their consent. We came to his den and cried aloud. He came out and asked us our problem. We narrated the whole story and soon he agreed upon lending his helping hand. “Just in case of risk, I will inform you all by some drops of rain. You will hear the splitter splatter and get ready.” “Okay we will do that.”

We were contented as both the King of winds and the King of rain would be assisting us.

But soon I was pondering as to why would the Vultures come to our forest for prey? Are they also facing the same problem which we are? Are their habitats too destroyed by human beings? Forests have been destroyed and hardly left for any wild animal or birds to live in. At times, I get furious; because of them our population has dwindled in numbers. What will happen when we will be wiped off the Planet Earth? Such thoughts make me shiver in the dark of the night.

As I was approaching my nest, I decided to put on a smile on my face so that my little ones do not see the strains of tension. I rushed in with all grains I could gather. I had earlier asked my friends to follow the same. Patience and perseverance will help us come out of this situation. Having fed them all, accompanied by sweet lullabies, I put them to sleep hoping it would be peaceful enough. In my heart of hearts, I was wondering and praying hard that the danger would pass by.

I think all of my friends would be doing the same thing. While sitting on the tallest branch of the Sal tree where I resided I watched as long as I could keep awake.

The night enveloped us in its stillness and darkness. Dawn broke. Horrified I looked at my nest. Everything was intact. What happened to the rest of my friends? I was wondering. All were screaming and flying towards my nest. “What is the news?” One of them said that a messenger had come early in the morning to inform us that this was fake news. The King of winds and king of rain had kept an eye the whole afternoon and night. No Vultures are coming into our forests, they have diverted their route. So let peace prevail and be happy.