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.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου