The Great Forest Fire and the little hummingbird

 

 

One day a terrible fire broke out in a forest – a huge woodlands was suddenly engulfed by a raging wild fire. The elephant and the tiger, the beaver and the bear all ran, and above them the birds flew in a panic. Frightened, all the animals fled their homes and ran out of the forest. As they came to the edge of a stream they stopped to watch the fire and they were feeling very discouraged and powerless. They were all bemoaning the destruction of their homes. Every one of them thought there was nothing they could do about the fire, except for one little hummingbird. Dukdukdiya, the little hummingbird, would not abandon the forest. She flew to the stream, and picked up a single drop of water in her beak. Then the tiny bird flew into the forest and dropped the water on the fire.

 

Back and forth Dukdukdiya flew, from the stream to the fire, bringing a drop of water onto the flame each trip. The other animals watched Dukdukdiya’s tiny body fly against the enormous fire, and they were frightened for their friend. Many of them called out to her, warning against the dangers of the smoke and the heat. “Don’t bother, it is too much, you are too little, your wings will burn, your beak is too tiny, it’s only a drop, you can’t put out this fire.”

 

‘What can I do?’ cried the rabbit. ‘This fire is too hot.’

‘There is too much smoke!’ howled the wolf.

‘My wings will burn! My beak is too small!’ sobbed the owl.

But the little hummingbird persisted. To and fro, she picked up more and more water, one beakful at a time, and dropping it, bead by bead, onto the burning forest.

Finally the great bear said ‘Little Dukdukdiya, what are you doing?’

Without stopping, Dukdukdiya looked down at all her friends. She said, ‘I’m doing what I can.’”

Like the hummingbird (Colibri), we each must do what we can.

 

This story has origins among the Quechan people of South America, as well as the Haida people of the North Pacific.