The Rainbird Tales E-Book

Marita Rainbird

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 56

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

"The Rainbird Tales" is a fascinating journey through northern nature and seasons for people from all walks of life. In old legends the rainbird is a provider of rain for animals and plants, a generous and helpful nature spirit. Today, the bird also collects exciting stories during her travels around the world. The author wrote the fables out of love for nature and interest in human behavior. The stories tell about country animals, their dreams and fears, about their struggle for freedom, fame, love and belonging. Many of the characters of the book have their counterparts in real life. The fables spiced up with warm humor and illustrations are full of unexpected twists and turns during the animals' eventful adventures in the mysterious northern nature. Take a deep breath and dive into the colorful world of "The Rainbird Tales" where cows can fly and dogs sing tango.

Leseprobe

To my beloved family

and to all those

who believe that cows can fly.

Content

Northern Seasons

Summer

The Flying Cow

The Human Sheep

The Seagull’s Song

The Pig and the Briar Roses

The Wagtail Time

Autumn

The Rabbit and the Ghost

Old Maid’s Realization

Horse as a Tractor Driver

The Motocross Fly

The Computer Cat

Winter

A Reindeer’s Dream

An Ostrich on Skis

The Happy Squirrel

The Moonstruck Rooster

The Singing Dog

Spring

Swan Love

The Frog and the Monster

The Greedy Duck

The Colourful Hen

Sheep Philosophy

Author’s Note

Finland’s nightless summers and dayless winters can trigger your imagination and make it run wild. With this in mind, enter the vivid world of The Rainbird Tales where anything can happen anytime for any reason.

Northern Seasons

Far, far away in the North there is a peaceful country called Finland. It is a land where Santa Claus lives enjoying the beautiful nature with forests and lakes.

There are four different seasons in Finland that transform the silent snow-covered winter to a green summer full of light and life. Temperatures vary from +30°C in summer to -30°C in winter.

Summer

In the summer the weather is warm and the days are long. It is a season of the Midnight Sun with bright nights. In Lapland, home of Santa Claus, the sun never sets for two months. Nature, animals and people are very much alive in the summer that lasts three months from June to August. The air is filled with birdsong and the scent of blossoming flowers.

The Flying Cow

There once was a cow named Daisy. Daisy was fed up with her life as a provider of milk on the farm. It seemed to her as though the lovely summer days were wasted. Life was all about chewing the cud and listening to the buzzing of flies. The only variations to her days were milking times, when the farmer’s wife patted her fondly and the farmer admired her beautiful limpid eyes while the milking machine hummed in its familiar way.

One fine summer’s morning Daisy had had enough. For quite some time she had admired the swallows that skimmed and darted about freely in the blue sky. Daisy wished to be free too, free to fly and to see the world. She wanted to be a flying cow!

At the hottest hour of the day, Daisy decided to set off, she simply left the pasture behind. It was time to learn how to fly. Daisy meandered across the meadows and admired the fragrant meadow blossoms and the sun-kissed countryside. The lake looked very tempting in the summer heat, but swimming would have to wait. She would need to find a steep hill from which she could practice flight.

Daisy continued on her way with determination, without fatigue, hunger or thirst. Far off on the horizon she spied a high hilltop at the foot of which there was a large open meadow. An ideal spot for flight practice! A high hilltop and a soft landing ground… With her cloven hoofs straining and her udders wobbling, she struggled up to the very top of the hill.

“Aim high but keep your feet down to earth.”

The world looked very large indeed when seen from high up on the large rocky hill precipice. Daisy felt quite dizzy and all her stomachs felt queasy. Yet, fear had to be pushed aside as a brand new world awaited the flying cow. After all, swallows could fly too!

Gingerly, Daisy took a few steps back then started off at a sprint, pushed hard and leapt! During her flight, Daisy noticed that she was lacking in something that the swallows had, she didn’t have wings! Eeeek! Daisy plummeted towards the ground like a rocket. And she landed with a big splash, right in the middle of soft, squishy swamp.

At that moment Daisy heard the farmer’s wife calling her to morning milking. Thank goodness! It had all just been a dreadful nightmare! How humiliating it would have been if they would have had to tow her out of the swamp with the tractor!

For the rest of the summer Daisy chewed the cud contentedly as she listened to the buzzing of the flies and gazed at the swallows dipping and darting about in the sky.

The Human Sheep

Poppy the sheep was happy. She had become an orphan when she was very tiny and the farmer’s family had taken her in to the warmth of the farmhouse to live. Her life was wonderful: the mistress held her and fed her warm milk with a baby’s bottle, she was allowed to sleep on a bed in the corner made of soft pillows and she spent the evenings in front of the television while the rest of the family stroked her and admired her soft woollen coat.

During the very first weeks of her life curious Poppy examined the house from the attic to the cellar. The attic stairs were her favourite place to play. She climbed carefully up the stairs and then slid down the banister. All day long one could hear Poppy swish and bump on the landing.

One fine day the bumping on the landing got to be too noisy for the farmer and his wife. Poppy had grown too big to be sliding and playing on the stairs and for nestling in the farmer’s wife’s lap. The farmer and his wife agreed that it was about time to take Poppy to join the other sheep. Poppy was horrified. She didn’t know anything about sheep’s lives. After all she was a human sheep!

So, a little sadly the farmer and his wife took an unwilling Poppy out of the house and put her into the sheep pen. Poppy gazed about in amazement at what the other sheep were up to. The other sheep bleated and came to greet her, but Poppy was too timid to say anything. The next day, Poppy got to know other sheep her age and shyly joined in their games. She enjoyed herself immensely in the company of the other sheep, but she wondered what the other sheep ate and where they slept. And what on earth did they do in the evenings without television?

“There is no shame in asking.”