The Vespers Sparrow
This is a fantastical tale inspired by medieval animal fables. Although the animals talk and there is a lesson, the ending is something a little closer to a fairytale instead of "you got what you deserved." I wrote it for my own children with an eye towards allowing a little grace into the story, and I am happy to share it with you!
The Lady in the moon bent down to the bird. Her lips brushed his head as she sang in his ear,
You sing for the Light
A job just for you
You’re a Vespers Sparrow
Which means each Eve
When the sun goes down
Your voice must go up
And this is how
You will serve the King.
He blushed and he blinked. When he looked again, she was gone. He settled his head on the side of the nest and closed his eyes.
~
When the sun smiled warm, the Vesper Sparrow opened his eyes and blinked.
He was eyeball to eyeball with a strange animal. It looked like a lizard, but was blue and red and yellow.
“Um, what are you?”
“The question is, who are you?” asked the trizzard, with his eyebrows bent in. “I did not receive communication that you would be here.” He pulled out a clipboard and ran his finger down a list.
The little brown bird smiled, “I’m a Vespers Sparrow, I sing for the King.”
“Yehhhhh…. about that.” He looked the little bird up and down. “If you are going to sing, you’ll need a costume. I’ve got three myself, so I can put on the fitting color for each occasion.”
“Do you sing too?” asked the bird.
“No. My color is calculated by the King to transform according to location.” The trizzard pulled out a calculator. He tapped the buttons with fervor. “The King will be expecting you to have a costume too. Follow me.”
They marched around the garden and collected the costume.
The trizzard explained he had to borrow some feathers from the tail of a cardinal.
“Ouch!” cried the cardinal over his shoulder.
He had to climb a sunflower to borrow some petals.
“Excuse me!” snipped the flower.
He also had to peel a chip of paint from the bees’ house.
“Hey! Watch it!” they droned.
The trizzard decorated the Vespers Sparrow in the colorful costume.
That evening, when the sun sunk into a pool of purple, the little bird tried to sing. But it turned out he was allergic to paint, and he felt silly in his costume.
Tweet. A-choo! Tweet. A-choo! Twaddeleep.
The kind garden gnome with his long black coat shook his head at the sight of the sad little bird. He bent his head and fingered his beads. From the moon, the Lady smiled down gently.
~
When the little bird awoke the next day, he opened his eyes to see a gigantic red berry.
“What a wonderful morning,” beamed the razzleberry, “welcome to the garden. I’m pleased to meet you! What do you do?
Hesitantly, the little bird answered, “I’m a Vespers Sparrow, I sing for the King.”
The razzelberry jumped. “That’s a splendid job and I know just what you need. Last week I overheard Father John say that berries really sing when mixed in lemon ice cream! The freezer is on the back porch – we can get some now!”
It took all day to get the freezer door open, but the berry and the bird, with the help of a hungry dog and a savvy squirrel, finally got to the ice cream. When the sun slipped goodbye, they were ready.
With red feathers, yellow petals, and sitting in a cold mess of lemon ice cream, the little bird tried to sing, but the shivering made his song all wrong.
T-t-tweet. Brrrrrr! T-t-t-weeet. Brrrrrr! Twaddleleep.
The garden gnome bent his gaze to the ground. The Lady in the Moon closed her eyes and shook her head.
~
The next morning, the rosy-cheeked sun awoke with a grin.
A gentle breeze awakened the chimes. Her silver voice drifted like a cloud over the garden. The little bird had never heard such a sound. He hopped over to see what caused it.
A mushelbroom saw him and bounced over to help.
The little bird looked confused, “I’ve never seen you before.”
“I sweep the sky,” the tall creature proclaimed, stretching his arms wide.
“But there is no dirt there,” questioned the bird.
“Exactly,” replied the mushelbroom, “because I take care of it! What about you – what’s your job?”
With a deep sigh, and disappointed voice, the bird did his best. “I’m a Vespers Sparrow, I sing for the King. Except, it hasn’t been going so well.” He looked longingly at the chimes.
The mushelbroom swelled his chest. “It seems to me we can apply difficult logic and solve your solution! Chimes produce noise when her pipes knock against each other. I can see you don’t have pipes- no problem! I have some friends who owe me a favor. Besides, they dive bomb each other all the time. They won’t mind knocking into you, so that you will therefore be able to make beautiful bumping sounds like the chimes.”
“I’m not sure that will work.” The bird winced.
“But it makes perfect sense! There they are by the red sugar feeder – Hummer! Strummer! I need your help!”
That night as the sun flickered through the trees, what a scene he did see.
With red feathers, and yellow petals, and a mess full of lemon ice cream - with a hat and a scarf and a sweater - and the hummingbirds in their dive-bombing places, the little bird began to sing.
Tweet. Bang! Tweet. Bash! Twaddeleep.
The little bird cried himself to sleep.
~
The next morning when the sun yawned and stretched, the little brown bird awoke to a beautifully empty nest.
And a kiss.
As the Lady of the moon brushed her lips on his head, a song swelled inside the bird. He did not even try, it just came out. It was so perfect, so sweet, and so true.
“How did I do it?!”
“You didn’t” she said. “The song is a mirror reflecting love. Look at the Love, and sing what you see.”
And the Vespers Sparrow saw that he did not need a costume like a trizzard, or ice cream like a razzelberry, or the mushelbroom’s silly plan to be like chimes.
He was supposed to just be a Vespers Sparrow and do his job - a job just for him!
That night, he waited for the sun to say goodbye.
The little bird lifted his head.
He opened his mouth.
And he sang for his King.
Lagniappe
In Louisiana, we use the Creole French word (lan-yap) to mean "a little something extra."
1. From Aesop's Fables to Peter Rabbit, learn more about Animal Fables here.
2. Discover how a Fairy Tale differs from Animal Fables and other tales and reflects fragments of the Gospel in this enlightening podcast.