I wrote The Bird & The Fish in two parts.
Here’s Part 1.
There once was a kingdom whose people did not like change. In this kingdom lived a girl with olive skin and bright, brilliant dreams, and a boy with ocean blue eyes and a passion for adventure.
It was inevitable that this boy and this girl would fall in love.
And that’s when the trouble began.
Together, the boy and girl dreamed wide-eyed dreams of travelling to faraway places. The girl wanted to read all the books in the world and learn everything there was to know about the stars and the sun and the moon. And the boy wanted to chart every sea.
When the townspeople heard of the young couples’ talk and plans and dreams, they summoned The Council of Status Quo.
“We don’t like change!” they said. “Such talk of travel and books and love is dangerous.”
“It will lead to all manner of chaos!” shouted the men.
“We don’t mind what the girl and the boy do in their own home you understand… but soon our children too will want to try!” cried the women.
One old man, who had loved once but not been brave enough for true love, listened quietly. Using his stick to steady himself, he leaned into the crowd and whispered, “What harm will it do us, their dreaming such dreams?”
But like most words of good sense his voice was drowned out by shouts of dissent.
The townspeople hatched a plan and summoned an old crone who lived in a rock by the sea.
Bent over double, the crone hobbled in.
The townsfolk pleaded for her help, “This couple must die! They want to bring strange new ways to our land.”
The crone glanced at the old man who had spoken up for the boy and girl. She remembered how they too had been young once and how the old man’s love for her had awoken magic in her fingertips. But the magic had frightened the townsfolk, and they had banished her to the rock where she had hardened her heart.
Stooped low, the crone looked at the boy with blue eyes and the girl with olive skin, then turned as the townsfolk’s shouts rose higher and higher.
“He wants to chart the seas! She wants to reach the stars! Why do they want such things when none of us do?”
The crone pointed her bony finger and uttered a word, a magical word. The crowd silenced itself, fear running through them. Words are more powerful than weapons, you see, they can start and end wars easily. But sometimes the most powerful thing is a look, a glance, an eyebrow raised. This the old man knew, and as he stepped forward and the crowd stepped back, the old crone at once reconsidered.
She turned her head and she looked at the sea. Then she turned it again and looked up at the sky. She muttered some words to herself and in a flash the girl was gone and the boy was in the sea.
The crone had shown as much mercy as her hardened heart would allow. But at least she had tried, which should be enough for anyone.
The townspeople looked over and gasped. The boy was a silvery Fish. He could travel the seas and do as he pleased.
A feather dropped to the ground and the olive-skinned girl soared up, a brightly-coloured bird of paradise. She could now fly high and reach for the stars.
But dreams are empty without love, and the Bird and the Fish yearned to be together. After all, it was together that they had woven their wishes.
The Bird dived deep into the sea to find her Fish. She coughed and spluttered as the sea salt dried her eyes. She tried and she tried but it was no good. Tired and hungry she collapsed on an island in the middle of the sea.
Watching his love’s brave attempts, the Fish swam and he jumped and he tried to fly. His fins were no use in the air, and when he landed on the island his scales began to dry. Worried he would not survive; Bird used her beak to nudge her love back into the sea.
There are fish that can fly and birds that can swim, but not our Bird and not our Fish.
The sun it started to set, its rays glinting on the ocean. The two lovers gazed at each other sadly across the water.
If you want to know how it ends then download it here…
The Bird & The Fish is a modern-day fairy tale for all ages and cultures.
