Why Sparrows Love The Snow
In the winter, after it has snowed, look outside your window. What do you see? Trees? Houses? White, everywhere you look? What about birds? Yes, you heard me right. Birds. Now, I know what you're thinking, 'what are birds doing out in the snow?' Am I right? Of course, I am! I thought the same thing few years ago, and if you had told me you saw some birds in the winter, I would have thought you were crazy and told you to get you eyes checked. Do you know, that those birds are sparrows? Now, sparrows are odd creatures. They just love playing in the snow, but they didn't always. There was a time, some hundred years ago, that they didn't like the snow at all. In fact, you could say they hated it, but that all changed one year when… Oh! Look at what I'm doing, if I tell you now that will ruin the whole story. Well, I suppose you want to hear the story now, huh, but where to begin… I was always told the beginning was a good place to start a story, so that's where I'll start. Now, keep in mind, this starts out with how I found out the story, so, don't be disappointed if this doesn't start the way you thought it would. And on that note, let's begin, shall we…
January 3, 1983
I was sitting in the parlor, of my house, in front of the fireplace. Sipping a cup of hot chocolate, and reading a book. It was snowing and frightfully, frigid outdoors. Only an insane person would be walking around out there. I do believe it was somewhere around two in the afternoon, when I heard the beautiful, chirping tune of some birds, outside. Now, being the curious person that I am. I decided to go investigate the source of the noise. Heading towards a window near the back of the house, I tried to think of a reason why there would be birds out in this weather. I couldn't find one. Finally reaching a window, I looked outside. And there, sitting on the ground, playing in the snow, were these brown birds. Sparrows would be more specific. Wanting to know the reason for them being out there, I grabbed the warmest coat I could find and the scarf my aunt had made, for my 20th birthday. Once I was all bundled up, I headed outside.
Walking out into the cold and down the porch stairs, I called out to the birds. 'My dear birds what are you doing out here? It is too cold for you to be out playing.' At the sound of my voice most of the birds flew away. Only one brave, little bird stayed. When I walked over to the bird he spoke. 'Why are we out here? We are sparrows. We love this cold, snowy weather. It is you who should not be out here. This is not the type of weather humans should be outdoors in.' I stared at the small bird for a second before responding. 'I do suppose you are right but, I had heard your friends and yourself singing from my parlor. I just had to know why you are out here.' ' I am sorry we disturbed you. We did not mean to.' 'Oh, there is no need to apologize, for there is nothing to be sorry for. I thought your song was beautiful.' 'Thank you for the complement but, it was not my song.' 'Oh, then whose is it, for it is quite lovely.' 'It belongs to an ancient sparrow elder, and it is actually a story, from long ago.' 'Is that so? What is it about?' 'It is about the reason why us sparrows love the winter and snow, for you see there was a time we all hated this season.' ' Really? How interesting. May I hear the story?' 'Of course! But it is a long story. We should head inside where it is warm, so you do not freeze during the story.' 'All right, I do believe the fire is still on, in the parlor.' Once we were settled the little bird began. 'Well now, as I told we sparrows didn't always like the winter season. I do believe it wasn't until the 1800s, that we started to enjoy the cold and everything it brought with it. Now, the exact date of the story I do not remember. However, the year was 1826, I believe. A very cold year too, I might add. Anyway…'
Winter 1826
'Oh my! What a day to run out of food! The weather is horrible, too much snow in my opinion. And, it is too cold! With these freezing temperatures, I am surprised the snow has not turned to hail yet. However, I do suppose I should go find food before it gets any worse.' The small sparrow flew out of its warm, home and into the dangerous blizzard ahead. The sparrow flew and flew, fighting the forceful winds of the storm. Eventually, it found it could fly no more in this weather and landed to try and find some sort of shelter from the storm. The small sparrow hopped around for hours. Just when it was about to give up, the sparrow found a small opening, by a frozen, snow-covered bush. 'Oh, finally, someplace to hide from these ghastly winds! What a fool I was to go out into this weather! I swear this is the worst time of year ever.' 'Why do you think that?' A voice asked from the blinding and dark unknown surrounding the small sparrow. 'Who is there?' The sparrow responded. 'Oh, poor thing do not be afraid I won't hurt you.' Then a strange human-like creature with wings came out of the dark. 'What are you?' 'Me? Why I am a snow fairy, of course! What would I be?' 'A snow fairy? What is that?' 'You have never heard of a fairy before?' 'No, I have not.' 'Oh, well then, fairies are small, magical creatures that fly around and help create the seasons as they go by. My job is to create the snow for the winter season.' 'So, you are the one responsible for this horrid storm!' 'There is no need to shout. Actually this blizzard is my older sister's fault. She's been in right, foul mood this morning. I am not sure why either…Oh! You still have not answered my question.' 'What question?' 'Why do you think this is the worst time of year?' 'Because, it is cold, it is hard to find food, and there is cold, frozen flakes of water (snow) everywhere! That is why.' 'I can help you find food if you wish.' 'Thank you that would be helpful, but what about the cold and snow.' 'There is not much you can do about the cold, but your feathers should keep you protected for the most part. As for the snow, when it is not falling like this, it is actually quite beautiful, to look at.' 'Snow is horrible. Nothing about it could be good.' 'Since it is cold it will help keep food fresh, for long periods of time. If you bury yourself deep enough, you could actually stay warm. You can also play in the snow as well.' 'Play in the snow? Are you insane? That stuff is far too cold!' 'It may be cold but, it is fun. You can build things with the snow, have a snowball fight, create snow angels, and if you have a sled or something flat you could go sledding down a hill! It is so much fun!' 'It does not sound like fun. It sounds cold and wet.' 'I know, meet me back here tomorrow, in the early morning and I will show you how much fun the snow could be.' 'Fine. You can try, but I doubt my opinion will change after tomorrow. Good bye.' 'Good bye.' Since the blizzard had stopped, the small sparrow was able to fly home to rest up for the next day. What the sparrow did not know, however, was that tomorrow would mark the day that all the sparrows would begin to enjoy the cold season.
The Next Day
The fairy waited by the bush for the sparrow to show up. Beginning to think the sparrow had forgotten about the promise, the fairy was about to head off to find the sparrow, when it landed just a few inches from the fairy. 'All right, I am here let's get this over with.' 'Do not fret little sparrow. I promise you will not be disappointed.' For the next few hours, the fairy showed the sparrow how to have fun with the snow. By the time they had gotten to the sledding, the small sparrow was laughing, singing in joy, and had finally seen the good of snow. (Granted a snowball fight with wings is a bit hard to do.) Once the snow fairy and sparrow had reached the bottom of the hill, the sparrow flew up into the laughing and admitted he was wrong about the snow. 'Oh my, that was so much fun! Thank you for showing me the joys of snow, young fairy.' 'It was no problem at all. I was glad to help. Oh, and before I forget, I collected some seeds and some slightly frozen berries for you.' 'How kind. Thank you very much. I am afraid I must go now but, please do visit whenever you can. I would love to play with you again, sometime soon.' 'All right, I will. Good bye.' 'Good bye!'
January 3, 1983
'…And the small sparrow shared all the games with its friends and told them of the young snow fairy that showed him the joys of winter. Unfortunately, the sparrow's friends never got a chance to meet the snow fairy. In my opinion, that is part of the reason we sparrows go out in the snow, to meet the fairy that helped us gain our love of the snow. And I believe that is the end of our story.' 'My, and what a lovely story it is to. Well, I am sure one day you will get that snow fairy friend of yours.' 'Yes, it is a nice story and you might be right, one day we will meet that fairy but, probably not anytime soon.' The sparrow then looked at the clock. 'Oh dear, quarter to five already, I should go. My friends are probably starting to worry.' 'Oh, of course, well take care and if you and your friends come back tomorrow I will have some seed out for you, all right?' 'That sounds nice. See you tomorrow. Good night.' 'Good night, little sparrow.' Once the sparrow flew off I decided to put away the empty cup of hot chocolate in the sink. However, before I could close the window, I opened so, the sparrow could fly home, I could have sworn I heard some faint laughing and saw a flash of blue come from the forest near the backyard. 'It could not be, could it…No, just my imagination. Why would that snow fairy hang around my house? Oh well.' After the window was closed, and I walked away, the laughing started again. Then out from under a bush flew a small, human-like creature, with wings. It stared at the house for a minute before flying away, with a smile on its face, thinking about how it changed the life of so many sparrows. Just by helping one and also it thought of where it could find the sparrow that was talking to the human…Well that the end of my story but, sometimes I swear I am still visited by that little snow fairy. My reasoning? Every so often, I can hear soft laughter and, out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of a small human-like creature with wings and a quick flash of blue.