Once upon a time there was a village inhabited by ducks. They lived a happy and peaceful life. One day, a strange visitor came to town. He was a bird, like the ducks, but had long skinny legs, a black head and a long, thin beak. He was an ibis who was in search of a new home after his village had burned down. His family had been killed in the fire. The ducks were suspicious of this new visitor and treated him with disdain.
‘Look at his ugly black head!’ some of the ducks whispered to each other.
‘He smells yucky,’ said a young duckling to his friend.
‘I heard Ibises eat garbage,’ the duckling’s friend replied.
The Ibis, staying at the local inn, kept to himself and tried not to bother anyone too much, sensing the unease his presence was causing in the village. He was alive, had food and shelter, but he was quite lonely in this new strange place.
One evening, one of the mother ducks came running in to the village from the nearby forest yelling and crying. ‘Someone, please help me! My baby duck has fallen down a snake burrow and can’t get out! The snake will be home from his hunt soon and will eat my baby for its dinner!’
All the ducks from the village rushed to the snake burrow and tried to get the duckling out but the duckling was too far down for any of the ducks to reach.
Just as the ducks were beginning to despair, the ibis appeared at the edge of the burrow, having heard the great commotion. As the ducks stood and watched in astonishment, the ibis, stretching his long neck, put his head and long beak into the snake burrow and gently grabbed the duckling by his beak. Very carefully, the Ibis lifted the frightened duckling out of the snake burrow and placed him next to his mother.
All the ducks in the village cheered as they walked back to the village with the Ibis. They thanked him and apologised for having treated him so poorly. The Ibis lived among the ducks for the rest of his days, happy in his new home.
(Photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash)