A FAIRY TALE

ROBIN: A FAIRY TALE

The red-haired farm mistress

could have no children.

So she nurtured the soil and

the cows, and cats,

the horses, and hogs,

chickens, ducks, and goats.

She created an Eden to watch

each fruitful multiplication,

and wept her sorrow

under a dead wisteria tree

by the rusty stillwater pond.

From the marmalade cat's mouth

she rescued a wounded robin

to set broken leg and wing.

Five weeks she nursed the bird

with midnight feedings

of ground crickets and

barn spiders;

then set the fledgling free.

She discovered this an uncommon bird

who promised to grant

one wish in one week

for her kindness--

as all good fairy tales do.

But when she returned

in seven days

to whisper her wish

on his wings,

lo, there was no bird.

She wailed a cry of woe,

neglected her chores,

wintered her heart.

But still she strung strips

of orange and apple

on bright bits of yarn she tied

to the limbs of the withered wisteria tree,

hoping to hear

the bird's whispery song.

Come spring

when the tree

bloomed with scented blossoms

in pale profusion

the woman bloomed too.

She welcomed her red headed child--

Robin.

     Do you like to read fairy tales and folk lore?  Can you make up your own story?  Can you make up a story for how whipped cream was first invented, or what happened to the princess who liked too many bubbles in her bath?  Can you make the story into a poem?