the hunting bird by Chris Rose In the small piece of dry land behind the house where Samir lived with his family, there was a bird. It was an old bird which sat on its perch all day, every day. Samir had never seen the bird fly. Samir’s grandfather told him that once, a long time ago, the bird had been a famous hunting bird.  It was famous not only in their village, but in many of the other nearby towns and villages too, he said. People came from all over just to see this bird fly. Now there were very few hunting birds left, said his grandfather.  Nobody knew how to hunt with them anymore. Samir looked at the old bird on its perch, and tried to imagine how it had been when it was younger, and famous, and when people came from all over just to see it fly. It was difficult to imagine. Now the bird did nothing but sit on the wooden perch on the dry land behind their house.  It looked tired.  The bird’s long beak was yellow with age. Its long brown feathers were starting to fall off. There were now only a few dark feathers in the bird’s tail. When he gave the bird something to eat it jumped down off its perch and ate slowly. Other than that, it never moved. But sometimes the bird looked at Samir, and Samir could see that the bird’s eyes were still bright and clear and awake and alive. Samir was fascinated by the look in the bird’s eyes, and he liked the way the bird had nothing to do with anyone else. He liked the bird’s independence and its mystery. “It can’t fly anymore” said Samir’s uncle to him one day. “There’s no point in keeping it anymore.  It costs us money to feed it. We’re not rich people.  We can’t keep pets. What’s the point of a hunting bird that can’t hunt? We’ll have to get rid of it.” Samir went to bed that night and thought about how he could persuade his uncle to let him keep the bird. The next morning he spoke to his uncle. “We’ve had the bird for a long time” said Samir. “Exactly!  It’s old and useless” replied his uncle. “It’s part of the family!” tried Samir. “Hmmm ...t hat’s not a good reason. I would like to get rid of your grandfather too! He’s just as useless!” laughed his uncle. “It only eats mice. It doesn’t cost us money to feed it” continued Samir. “Yes ... and now there are dead mice all over the place! It’s not healthy to have dead mice all over the garden!” “It’s a hunting bird.” “Hunting!? That bird can’t hunt anything!” “If I can show you that the bird can still hunt, can I keep it?” His uncle stopped and thought for a moment. “Very well then, yes. Show me that the bird can still hunt, and you can keep it.” Samir was pleased but also worried. He didn’t know if the bird could still hunt or not.  He went to his grandfather and asked him what to do. That evening, Samir and his grandfather went to the piece of dry land behind their house. His grandfather put on a big leather glove and took the bird off its perch.  The bird stood on his grandfather’s hand. Together, Samir, his grandfather and the bird walked away from their house, out to the edge of the village where they lived. The bird didn’t move while they walked. Eventually, they came to the open land at the end of the village. Samir’s grandfather stretched out his arm straight. The bird sat on his hand at the end of his arm. Then, very quickly, he took his arm away. Samir thought that the bird would fall to the ground, but it didn’t. Instead, in less than a second, it opened its huge wings and flew upward, up into the sky so quickly that Samir could hardly see it. It flew so high that it was difficult to see. It went so high it almost vanished in the bright late afternoon sky. Samir could just see it - a tiny black dot against the sky. He watched the dot move until he was sure it was the bird, his bird. The bird seemed to stop in the middle of the sky. Samir wondered how it was possible. The bird held its huge wings open and floated in the sky like a duck on water, moving slowly from one side to another. Sometimes, it moved its wings gently up and down, then was still again, as if he was on his perch in the middle of the sky. Then, in a second, the bird turned, moved its head down and fell like a stone out of the sky. Samir had never seen an animal move so fast. His grandfather pointed to the place not far from them where the bird landed. They walked over to it and found the bird next to the dead body of a small rabbit. The bird had cut the rabbit open with its old but sharp beak. It was already eating. The next morning, Samir persuaded his uncle to come with him. Samir took the bird on his arm as he had seen his grandfather do. Together, they walked to the open space at the edge of the village. Samir held the bird out on his hand, then quickly moved his arm away. The bird fell to the ground. It opened it wings, then stood still. It didn’t move again. Samir’s uncle laughed and laughed. “See! I told you it was useless! Come on, Samir, I know you like animals, but you need to grow up a bit. You have to learn that we can’t keep things just because you like them.” Samir went back to his grandfather and told him what had happened. His grandfather told him that a bird wouldn’t hunt in the morning. The sun was too bright. He told him to persuade his uncle to go out again with him, in the late afternoon, when the light was less strong, when it was cooler. At that time of day, said Samir’s grandfather, the bird could see a mouse from 50 metres up. Samir had to work hard to persuade his uncle to come out with him a second time. “No way, Samir” said his uncle. “I’m a busy man. I haven’t got time to waste on a stupid old bird.” “Uncle, I promise you. If the bird won’t hunt this time, then you can get rid of it, and I won’t say anything ever again.” His uncle thought for a moment, then sighed. “Very well, then, last chance.” Again Samir took the bird from its perch. Again they went to the open space at the end of the village. The sun was beginning to set over the hills in the distance. The air was already a little cooler. Samir stood with the bird at the end of his arm. He took his arm away. The bird flew up into the sky like a rocket. It went so high that it almost vanished. Samir could see that his uncle was quiet with surprise. “Where’s it gone?” said his uncle. Samir pointed to a tiny dot in the sky. They both watched the dot, as it rested in the middle of the sky for a few minutes, then turned, circled a couple of times, and begin to fall like a stone. They watched as the bird came closer to them. It came closer and closer and closer, very quickly. For a moment, Samir thought it was going to hit them. His uncle ran out of the way. They heard a swoooossssh and then a quick thummmpp and looked to where the bird had touched the ground. His uncle was impressed. The bird sat there on the ground before them. It had caught a mouse. When they saw that it was a mouse, the expression on Samir’s uncle’s face changed. He started to laugh again. “A mouse! A mouse! A tiny little mouse! That’s all? Very good, I’m sure, but a bird that can only hunt mice isn’t much use, is it?  We can’t eat mice!” He laughed. “Why can’t your wonderful hunting bird catch a goat, at least? Or even better, why can’t it go and catch twenty frozen pizzas!!?? Hmmm???” He laughed again. “Come on Samir, I’m not a bad man, you know. But there’s no point in having that old bird anymore. Hunting is a thing of the past.” Samir walked home alone, taking the bird with him. The next morning he woke up and when he went out, he saw that the bird had gone. His uncle came home at lunch time. Samir asked his uncle what he had done with the bird. “Look” sighed his uncle. “It doesn’t matter what happend to the old bird. We didn’t need it anymore. We couldn’t keep it. Now I don’t want to hear any more about this story! Is that clear?” Samir said nothing. That evening two men came to their house in a big car. They banged on the the door and started shouting to see Samir’s uncle. “We know you’re in there!” they shouted. Samir didn’t know who they were. “Let us in!” shouted the men. Samir saw his uncle behind the door. His uncle looked worried. Eventually, his uncle opened the door and the men came in. “You said to us that the bird was a hunting bird!” “You told us it could catch anything!” “You sold us that bird and it won’t even fly!” “It’s not a hunting bird! It just lazy, or stupid, or perhaps both!” “Like you!” “We want our money back!” Samir’s uncle looked very worried. “Look” he started to say, “I can’t give you your money back .... I’ve already spent it ... but don’t worry!” He pointed at Samir. “Samir here knows how to make the bird fly! He’ll show you how to do it! If Samir shows you, the bird will do anything! It’s a great bird, that’s right, isn’t it Samir???” The men stopped shouting at Samir’s uncle, and turned to look at Samir. “Well then, “ said one of the men, “Is that true? Can you make the bird hunt? Show us!!!” Samir looked at the men. Then he looked at his uncle. Then he turned and walked out of the house. The bird was in the back of the car. Samir opened the door of the car and took the bird on his arm. He held his arm out, then quickly moved it away. The bird flew high, high up into the sky, until they could hardly see it anymore. THE END . He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good. Confucius I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty... But I am too busy thinking about myself. Edith Sitwell  Life is a long lesson in humility. James M. Barrie Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend. Jules Renard Modesty is a shining light; it prepares the mind to receive knowledge, and the heart for truth. Madam Guizot I am no more humble than my talents require. Oscar Levant If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect. Ted Turner Acting is not being emotional, but being able to express emotion. Kate Reid I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions. Dorothy Day I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. John Locke Strong reasons make strong actions. William Shakespeare Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half. John Wanamaker You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements. Norman Douglas Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. Stephen Leacock Advertisements... contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper. Thomas Jefferson I read no newspaper now but Ritchie's, and in that chiefly the advertisements, for they contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper. Thomas Jefferson What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public. Vilhjalmur Stefansson Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties. Aesop It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice. Anne Tyler People who ask our advice almost never take it. Yet we should never refuse to give it, upon request, for it often helps us to see our own way more clearly. Brendan Francis Ask advice only of your equals. Danish Proverb Please give me some good advice in your next letter. I promise not to follow it. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), Letters Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present. English Proverb Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. Erica Jong I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. G. K. Chesterton Never give advice unless asked. German Proverb Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it. Gordon R. Dickson The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right. Hannah Whitall Smith I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it. Harry S Truman   Never take the advice of someone who has not had your kind of trouble. Sidney J. Harris In giving advice, seek to help, not please your friend. Solon Never advise anyone to go to war or to marry. Spanish Proverb Beware of the young doctor and the old barber. Benjamin Franklin To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am. Bernard M. Baruch   Aging is not 'lost youth' but a new stage of opportunity and strength. Betty Friedan There is no old age. There is, as there always was, just you. Carol Matthau Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you. Cyril Connolly The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in 70 or 80 years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. Doris Lessing The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools. Doug Larson Though it sounds absurd, it is true to say I felt younger at sixty than I felt at twenty. Ellen Glasgow The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. Frank Lloyd Wright Age to me means nothing. I can't get old; I'm working. I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work. As long as you're working, you stay young. When I'm in front of an audience, all that love and vitality sweeps over me and I forget my age. George Burns   I was always taught to respect my elders and I've now reached the age when I don't have anybody to respect. George Burns   About the only thing that comes to us without effort is old age. Gloria Pitzer   Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough. Groucho Marx The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. H. L. Mencken . My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me. Benjamin Disraeli   It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree. For if, by ill luck, people understood each other, they would never agree. Charles Baudelaire Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness. Cullen Hightower We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us. Francois de La Rochefoucauld If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking. Lyndon B. Johnson I don't necessarily agree with everything I say. Marshall McLuhan If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong. Mo Udall Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong. Oscar Wilde The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be. Walter Bagehot When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary. William Wrigley Jr. America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair. Arnold Toynbee  There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. Bill Clinton   America's one of the finest countries anyone ever stole. Bobcat Goldthwaite There's the country of America, which you have to defend, but there's also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it's an idea. An idea that's supposed to be contagious. Bono There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence and energy of her citizens cannot cure. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969) The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced. Frank Zappa England and America are two countries separated by a common language. George Bernard Shaw America is a young country with an old mentality. George Santayana America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the chance, and refused – preferring greatness to power and justice to glory. George W. Bush America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. George W. Bush America will never run... And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders. George W. Bush In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. That is what makes America what it is. Gertrude Stein   What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity - intellect and resources - to do some thing about them. Henry Ford II This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do. Jack Kerouac In a country as big as the United States, you can find fifty examples of anything. Jeffery F. Chamberlain America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy. There are three social classes in America: upper middle class, middle class, and lower middle class. Judith Martin, The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children. King Edward VIII Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. Cherie Carter-Scott When anger rises, think of the consequences. Confucius If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: 'I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.' When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods. Epictetus Anger at lies lasts forever. Anger at truth can't last. Greg Evans Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry. Henry Ward Beecher Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret. Laurence J. Peter Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change. Malcolm X I have a right to my anger, and I don't want anybody telling me I shouldn't be, that it's not nice to be, and that something's wrong with me because I get angry. Maxine Waters My parents only had one argument in forty-five years. It lasted forty-three years. Cathy Ladman He who strikes the first blow admits he's lost the argument. Chinese Proverb I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. Dave Barry Use soft words and hard arguments. English Proverb The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments. Friedrich Nietzsche   The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion. G. K. Chesterton No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other. Jascha Heifetz If you go in for argument, take care of your temper. Your logic, if you have any, will take care of itself. Joseph Farrell Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. Josh Billings Behind every argument is someone's ignorance. Louis D. Brandeis Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing. Oscar Wilde It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them. Pierre Beaumarchais In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth. Publilius Syrus The argument is at an end. Saint Augustine It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. William G. McAdoo With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plea; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost. William Lloyd Garrison For they are yet ear-kissing arguments. William Shakespeare   [Abstract art is] a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered. Al Capp Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern. Alfred North Whitehead Painting: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic. Ambrose Bierce Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. Amy Lowell Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. Andre Gide Let each man exercise the art he knows. Aristophanes I believe that if it were left to artists to choose their own labels, most would choose none. Ben Shahn So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering. Brenda Ueland I suppose no matter what I'm drawing, there will always be some sort of question in my mind about it. A work of art (even cartoon art)is never really finished; it is abandoned. Brooke McEldowney, I can't criticize what I don't understand. If you want to call this art, you've got the benefit of all my doubts. Charles Rosin, Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature. Cicero Art forms of the past were really considered elitist. Bach did not compose for the masses, neither did Beethoven. It was always for patrons, aristocrats, and royalty. Now we have a sort of democratic version of that, which is to say that the audience is so splintered in its interests. David Cronenberg, Rocketboom, The idea of a mass audience was really an invention of the Industrial Revolution. David Cronenberg, I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues. Duke Ellington Works of art, in my opinion, are the only objects in the material universe to possess internal order, and that is why, though I don't believe that only art matters, I do believe in Art for Art's sake. E. M. Forster Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before. Edith Wharton Art is on the side of the oppressed. Think before you shudder at the simplistic dictum and its heretical definition of the freedom of art. For if art is freedom of the spirit, how can it exist within the oppressors? Edith Wharton A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world. Edmond de Goncourt Illusions are art, for the feeling person, and it is by art that you live, if you do. Elizabeth Bowen Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything. Eugene Delacroix Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. Frank Zappa I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration. Frida Kahlo Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. G. K. Chesterton A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright   I happen to feel that the degree of a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic. Lisa Alther, Kinflicks, Complaining is good for you as long as you're not complaining to the person you're complaining about. Lynn Johnston A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug. Patricia Neal Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. William James The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind. William James   A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it. Bob Hope Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners. E. Joseph Cossman A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain. Mark Twain The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason. John Cage I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful. John Constable Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together. Petrarch When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. R. Buckminster Fuller Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. Albert Einstein   This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book - it makes a very poor doorstop. Alfred Hitchcock Bülent Göksal   EnglishEver © 2008