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Three Truths
Or, The Fable of the Non-Conformist Sparrow
I was told this tale many years ago, by an old friend, in a motorway cafe and three in the morning. It is, of course, a joke, (sparrows are not migratory) but like all good comedy, it has a kernel of wisdom. Enjoy!
Once, long ago, in the days when only criminals and superheroes wore masks and people would stand next to each other in shops, there lived a colony of sparrows. Among them was a sparrow of great robustness of body and even greater independence of mind. It might be fair to call him a little stubborn, contrary, or, in the words of his fellow sparrows, “bloody awkward”. When they ate seeds, he ate insects, but when insects were common, he would go out of his way to find seeds. Everyone knows somebody like that -I see one whenever I look in a mirror!
Now in early autumn, as is customary, the colony would undertake the annual flight south. Our sparrow had, of course, done this as well for some years, but had always been a little discontented with it.
“Why,” he would ask, “are we leaving now? There’s plenty of fruit, plants are running to seed and here are still a lot of insects around. It isn’t even very cold!”
The leader of the colony, the Wise Old Bird, said: “Child, we go while the going is good. Because all too soon the plants and insects will die or sleep. The air…
