From Sparrow to Crow pt.1

One rather cold winter's day a new life was welcomed into the world. A little sparrow by the name of Atlas emerged from his sun bleached egg, squeaking and chirping, ready to take on the world. Unlike many other birds he was lucky enough to have both his mother and father stick around long enough to try and help him into his majestic flying adulthood.

Atlas was a rather average sparrow in terms of distinction; he had hatched with his father's brown fluffy feather and his mother's pearly white beak. Behind his cold black eyes however laid the intelligence of a bird far beyond that of his fellow hatchlings. His mother and father both lauded his intelligence as they were certain that he would bring great happiness to his nest. He quickly learned to fly and scavenge for insects while also developing an extraordinary habit of tidiness.

The nest he called home was always considerably cleaner than that of the other birds in the tree and much of what his own doing. He took great enjoyment in being a bit of a star amongst the other birds and tried his best not to let them down. One day however, he met his downfall after observing some of the older birds a few branches above him.

He wasn't always the most liked by the other sparrows his age, they saw him as an outcast with his impeccably white beak and his fluffy brown feathers. The others had darker beaks and their feathers so much more rough than his and they flaunted it in front of him. He began to retreat inside himself and stuck more closely to the family of birds in his nest while observing the other birds. He thought maybe if he did what the older birds did, that the sparrows his age would be more kind.

He watched as the older birds began to feed more freely on the food that people would drop for them instead of scavenging on insects like the others did. He watched how they would act in increasingly stupid ways to garner the attention of the humans and then how the humans took such enjoyment from it and fed them without any hesitation. One day he decided he too would feast upon the peoples gifts and hope to impress the other sparrows with his courageous and frivolous tricks.

He eventually worked up the courage to perform his first trick and immediately became hooked on the delicious morsels of bread and cake that the humans would leave for him. He kept it to himself at first, realizing that it was frowned upon, but eventually became too caught up in the game that his act was found out. His family was not happy with him and tried to reform him by forcing him to wait silently and wait for the bugs rather than feed upon the instant gratification of the people's food.

[to be continued]