The swift

A couple of pigeons once lived in one town. One day they found a wonderful loophole: a hatch leading directly to the heating main. It was quite dirty there but there were no people, so they decided to build their nest in this place. Mama Pigeon has already laid two small white eggs and started to hatch them with Papa Pigeon by turns.

One day, Mama Pigeon stayed late, and Papa pigeon began to coo impatiently, calling her. Finally, Mama Pigeon returned and kissed Papa Pigeon.

"Do you know who our new neighbours are?" she asked casually.

"No," replied Papa Pigeon.

"They have a nest under the roof right above us."

"I'll fly and see."

Papa Pigeon flew out of the hatch, turned around, and saw a small but neat nest right in front of him.

"Their nest is prettier than ours," thought Papa Pigeon, "But where are its owners?"

Papa Pigeon flew up to the nest, looked into it, and saw a tiny white egg. Then he went home and told everything to Mama Pigeon.

"It looks like the nest is abandoned," said Mama Pigeon, "I wonder how the Crow didn't find it before we did."

"Bite your tongue! You know, as soon as you say her name, she shows up."

Mama Pigeon was just a prophet. The Crow had been watching them closely all this time. She chose the moment and croaked loudly, drawing attention to herself. The pigeons were alarmed. Papa Pigeon left the nest, flew up, and saw a Crow on a nearby tree.

"Ah! Papa Pigeon! We meet again beak to beak. You won't dare stop me this time..." the Crow croaked.

The crow took off, pushed Papa Pigeon aside, destroyed the nest in a matter of seconds, and grabbed the egg. She was about to fly, but Papa Pigeon rushed at her, and a fight began. Feathers flew in all directions, but in the end, Papa Pigeon managed to take the Crow's egg. Defeated, but not broken in spirit, the Crow returned to the same tree. Her eyes were as fierce as a falcon's.

"I'll be back, Papa Pigeon! You're going to pay for this!" The Crow croaked so loudly that the whole town could hear it.

That day, the Crow was left without lunch. Papa Pigeon returned to the nest with a victory, and the family began to think about how to live on now.

"Let's keep this ownerless little egg for ourselves. And whoever hatches from there, we will raise him as our child," suggested Mama Pigeon.

Papa Pigeon, after a moment's thought, said, "All right, let it be."

Mama Pigeon kissed Papa Pigeon again and went on hatching her eggs, three this time.

Two and a half weeks passed, and the pigeon family extended: two eggs hatched into small, yellow pigeons, and another egg hatched into a completely blind, darkish chick.

"What kind of bird are you?" Papa Pigeon asked himself, looking at the foundling bird.

"What difference does it make? It doesn't matter at all," said Mama Pigeon indignantly, "The important thing is that he's a bird, he's part of the family, and he's my son... I'll call him Blackbeak."

Papa Pigeon didn't argue with her.

As the days passed, the chicks slowly grew. The feeding of the chick, named Blackbeak, was a great difficulty for the parent pigeons. After all, as they managed to find out, the Blackbeak ate only insects. Papa Pigeon has even become more adept at catching insects in the air. This method he spied on the swallows. But now the chicks have grown up, and it was time for them to say goodbye to their parents. Blackbeak's brothers flew away from the heating main without any problems, but as he waved his long wings, he was unsuccessful: he constantly beat them on the ground. The three of them began to think about what to do with it.

"I have a friend who can help us," said Mama Pigeon.

"So what are we waiting for, let's fly quickly!" Blackbeak was delighted.

"But there's a problem... How are we going to get you to her?" asked Mama Pigeon.

"Perhaps your friend will come to us herself?" asked Papa Pigeon.

Mama Pigeon didn't answer him. She just flapped her wings and flew away without saying a word. It had been a long time since Mama Pigeon had left, and Papa Pigeon and Blackbeak were beginning to worry about her. And then they heard the flapping of the wings of a large bird. It briefly caused our heroes to get even more excited, but as soon as they noticed Mama Pigeon, they realized that there was nothing to worry about. Mama Pigeon arrived accompanied by her friend the Wise Owl, who got her name for a reason: she knew everything about everyone, always helped everyone, and could not refuse to help pigeons, too. After the pigeons told the Wise Owl about their problem, the Owl hooted and thought for a while.

"I am powerless here, unfortunately. But I know someone who can help you. Fly to the village to the Magpie-Gatherer. She has the largest collection of all kinds of shiny things. I'm sure she has a pair of scissors, too. Ask her to clip Blackbeak's wings, and then he can learn to fly."

The pigeons thanked the Wise Owl for his help, and she flew home.

"Blackbeak, I hope you understand that we are not going to fly to the Magpie-Gatherer?" asked Mama Pigeon.

"But why?" Blackbeak asked.

"Your mother and I once knew a parrot named Polly," said Papa Pigeon, "who lived in the house next door, and we used to visit her quite often. So, Polly constantly grumbled at her mistress for clipping her wings, why because of this she completely forgot how to fly..."

"I see... I guess, nothing will help me..." said Blackbeak so sadly that his adopted pigeon parents would have cried if they could cry, "Thank you for everything..."

And Blackbeak wandered, he did not know where away from the pigeon's nest. He walked along the park, where he was noticed by many passers-by: some simply stopped nearby, watching the drooping, strange bird wandered about its business, while others - those who are parents - all dragged their children to themselves so that they would not even think of touching, stroking or even catching the supposedly "sick" bird. And Blackbeak went on and on until the night fell. Eventually, he came to a lonely tree, buried his beak in it, and fell asleep.

In the morning, he woke up to someone's screaming. On the branch of the tree under which Blackbeak had fallen asleep, a swift-girl was sitting and shouting:

"Hey!"

Blackbeak raised his head and for the first time in his life, he saw a bird like two drops of water similar to him. "You can't take off, can you?" shouted the swift-girl.

"Yes... How do you know?" Blackbeak replied.

"That's where the sidewalk ends, and the road begins," said the swift-girl, pointing in the direction of the wing, "Good luck, and won't get hit by a ca-ar..." she drawled, jumping down from the tree and rushing somewhere up.

Blackbeak was a little confused, but despite that, he went where the swift-girl showed him. Soon, he came to a road where countless cars were passing by. Blackbeak stood on the very edge of the sidewalk and wondered if his life was worth it. But what is life for a bird without flying? Waiting for the right moment, when there were fewer cars, he closed his eyes, spread his wings, took a step forward... And flew! He really could fly! Happy Blackbeak gained altitude quickly and found the swift-girl very soon.

"Hello, shrew!" shouted the swift-girl, "I see my advice could help you. Well done for not getting hit by a car, I didn't doubt you for a seco-ond…"

"Thank you so much!" Blackbeak shouted.

"I was glad to help! By the way, I'm Forktail!"

"Nice to meet you! And I'm Blackbeak!"

"Nice to meet you, too, Blackbe-eak!.."