Her true name has been forgotten by all--perhaps not even she remembers any more. She was made an outcast for a crime she did not commit: for being born to a mother who was a thief and seductress. Both mother and child were punished and outcast from their colony. While her mother did not live long from the wounds she recieved, Shackle--so named for the burning shackles used to mark her at birth so that around her wrists no fur grows, but skin burned and black is seen--thrives in the jungle and cares little of her fate. Raised by a mysterious fellow outcast meerkat known only as Tante (meaning "aunt"), Shackle grew to feel only bitterness towards those who set her free from the orchestrated colony life--a freedom that is a curse. Now she lives in the jungle with Tante and Eli, a child they found clinging to a piece of floating bark in the river. In her song she expresses two conflicting emotions: a secret longing to rejoin the colony that cast her out at her birth, mingled with her desire to have them see what she has been through, and force them to share her fate.


Shackle's Song

I am just a little bird and you can hear me sing.
Come cage me up and keep me for the fortune I will bring.
No crown or jewels shall I put on, no velvet shall I wear;
Though by your hands I am shackled, all my songs are yours to share.

Come dance upon the water when the water's made of wine.
Come press hot steel against your skin--I promise you'll be fine.
Come live with me in glory and more pain than you can feel.
Come look into my eyes and see that none of it is real.

I am just a little bird and you can see me fly.
Look for a flash of flaming wings against the blood-red sky.
No downy nest have I to rest in, nor surcease from pain;
So I fly free eternally until I'm whole again.

Come dance upon the water when the water's made of wine.
Come press hot steel against your skin--I promise you'll be fine.
Come live with me in glory and more pain than you can feel.
Come look into my eyes and see that none of it is real.

I am just a little bird and here is how I live:
All I can take is hope, for hope is all I have to give.
I shall not waste my life away, no mask shall I put on;
And though I have been shackled, it's a battle I have won!