Tuesday 1 July 2014

The Battle In The Hills


Paradise
This story starts with the sun starting to set, near the edge of a forest, where the dim sunlight washes over the trees and the wind is settling down...
     "Where did you find those grubs?"
     "I told you. Behind three cabbage tree palms."
     "Are you trying to trick us?"
     They didn't believe what they had told him the second time. This was because they had sent him into the most foodless, unexplored part of the woods.
     Gumbark was a bush turkey. Every evening he and his family went searching for food. In the late afternoon they had decided where each of them would go. To his surprise Leaf came back with a full stomach. Even Gumbark did not believe Leaf. Redtree got chased by a dog, Gumbark found only a few worms, Krar could not hunt for food because some of her eggs got eaten by a snake and she wanted to defend the rest...
     ...and Leaf found more grubs than anywhere else while searching in a place with no food? Impossible!
Gumbark was a bush turkey.

     "He could have found some apples making a wide loop and going to the houses at the side of the road" Redtree said to me,"but I was walking around all of the houses and did not see a hint of him."
     Gumbark did not say anything back to Redtree, because he had started to make sense out of what Leaf said. That part of the forest had never been explored before.
     Then Leaf said "Come over here. I'll show you."
     With Leaf leading the way, they went to the place with flat rocks covering the ground. Here It was windy, the few trees crammed in between the rocks being too small to stop the wind. Any dead trees were not moist but dried to a crisp. The scarce soil was as dry as sand, and no worms or grubs could live here.
     But soon the bush turkeys felt wet earth beneath their feet, they passed three cabbage tree palms, and there was it. In the middle of a field of flowering grass trees and tall plants, was a twisted tangle of rotting dead trees, slithering with worms and grubs.
     "Enjoy" said Leaf.
     All three returned home more full than they ever were before.



I sometimes wonder how they fly
     Swish, swish, swish...
     Ranid listened to the sound of his wings flapping under a bright sun. He was in the middle of a wide field with his brothers and sisters. Sometime the sun would start sinking below the horizon.
     Ranid was a ground-swallow. He darted along, flying very close to the ground.
     Ranid's eye caught a black cockatoo. He stopped flying and alighted on a dead tree. The black cockatoo was sitting halfway up a tall tree, higher than Ranid had ever gone. From far below Ranid could easily see the striking panels of red on the underside of the cockatoo's tail.
Ranid's eye caught a black cockatoo

     Ranid couldn't help asking "hello, did you see anything happening lately? You are staring at that hill."
     The black cockatoo said "yes... I just saw three bush turkeys going up the hillside."
     "What's a bush turkey?"
     "Bush turkeys are big birds with small heads that are completely black except a little yellow and red on their necks. I sometimes wonder how they fly. But they rarely do, compared to you ground-swallows."
     "If they don't fly, how can you see them under all those trees?"
     "They went across some rocks with no trees. But they never go along that stretch. I think something is going on."
     "What do you mean?"
     The black cockatoo acted like he hadn't heard Ranid's question, "Ground-swallows are lucky. You are isolated from anything happening in the hills. You are safe. Be thankful."
     Ranid was about to ask another question, but the black cockatoo had already flown away.


Sour Seeds
     Karr, Gri, Eri, Hiera, and Foi were together eating the budding flowers of a bush. The tough buds that they could hardly eat were the only morsels of food they could find in a sad part of the forest where chemicals from a nearby polluted lake contaminated the plants.
     "These are the worst. Is there anything around here that tastes good?" said Gri.
"I'm afraid that if we want more food we will have to sleep now and search tomorrow"

     "We've flown around here all day. I'm afraid that if we want more food we will have to sleep now and search tomorrow. None of the grass trees around here are even budding right. And all of the seeds around here are sour." said Hiera, who seemed to be the leader of the group.
     "My wings are tired. Let's go to sleep." said Karr.
     Hiera thought about the scarce food. What would happen if all of the birds, The kookaburras, the bush turkeys... Everyone had troubles like this? What would happen if all of the birds were starving? Winter was coming nearer, and that meant less food, more competition for territory. And this year, there was little food already. With this spot of forest devoid of good food...
    Hiera didn't want to think about it. She settled down.
    One by one the rainbow lorrikeets went to sleep. The only one who couldn't go to sleep was Foi, who hadn't had a full stomach in two days. He was feeling it was going to be a long night when he heard a faint sound 'Oom...oom...oom...'
     "Owl?" Foi wondered aloud. He thought it was a boobook owl, which he heard little about.
     "Zzzzzt"
     Foi jumped. He thought it was a bee or a snake. He woke the other rainbow lorikeets up.
     While the others were waking up, Foi saw the fuzzy outline of an owl perching on a branch close to him.
     "Are you an owl?" Eri chirped.
     "No" said the bird. "Call me Arcoi."
"No" said the bird.

     "Are you a tawny frogmouth?" the more-curious-than-before Eri said.
     "Just call me Arcoi. Why are you not asleep?"
     "We had a restless night. We can't find any food." said Foi.
     "I once flew over a place with lots of seeds. So many grass trees and seeding bushes you won't eat all of it even by the time the now waning moon is full."
     Gri suddenly said "That's great! Where is that place?"
     "Over there." Arcoi said, pointing with his beak."Close to a tangle of rotting trees."
     The five rainbow lorikeets eventually went to sleep, knowing that they wouldn't have to eat sour seeds and tough, bitter buds anymore.


not territory, but food
     The kookaburra sat on a branch near a house with a wide white roof. The sun suddenly came out from behind the clouds and reflected off the metal roof and into the kookaburra's eyes. She turned away from the dazzling sunlight, watching an Eastern rosella flying far away.
The kookaburra sat on a branch.

     "Aah-hoo-hoo-hoo...kaa-koo-koo"
     Irind turned her head toward her mother. They were far away from each other.
     "O-o-hah-ah-aaa-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooo"
     "Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooo"
     "Haa-hoo-hoohoohoohoohooh"
     "Hooo" Irind admitted, flying to her mother.
     "Why did you sit close to that house?"
     "I was hoping I could steal some food."
     Irind was a member of the Bulumat family. This family lived near a town and often fought with the other families, Dumeni and Jineik.
     "Don't think of doing that. The last kookaburra who stole a piece of meat got hit with a-"
     "Don't remind me."
     But 'think of doing that' they will. The Bulumat family stole from humans at every chance they could get. These kookaburras got wounded and bruised many times, but with a reward, and during the dry hungry summer months that was all they thought about.
     "khoo-khoo-khoo..."
     Suddenly, Irind's mother snapped her head around and stood up straight. The call came from somewhere among the trees.
     The call sounded out again. "Khoo-khoo-khoo..." the other kookaburra said, sounding as if he was not sure what to do next.
     "Invaders!" Irind's mother said quickly. Before Irind could respond, her mother, Ires, chuckled "come on!" and they both flew into the trees.
     While they were flying, they heard more:
     "khoo-khoo-khoo..."
     "kaa..."
     "khoo...khoo..."
     "khoo-khoo-khoo-kaa-kaa-kaa-kaa-kaa-"
     Another joined in, making a louder sound than the first one, "kooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
     Two more joined in, making the resulting sound "koohookhookaahaahaa..."
     When Irind and Ires got there, they saw the whole Bulumat family together, joining in loud laughter. The two kookaburras alighted on a tree branch and started doing the same.
     They were trying to ward off invaders, but they had no luck. The two kookaburras from the Jineik family would not move closer, but did not fly away into their territory. The laughing continued, but the two unfamiliar kookaburras didn't budge. Slowly the laughing ceased.
     Uar, the strongest of the Bulumat family, flew onto a branch closer to the Jineik family kookaburras and looked at the eldest kookaburra, Urask. Everyone knew what Uar was going to do and intently watched.
     Urask raised his head and cackled, "oo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo...ha".
     Uar flew at full speed into one of the enemy kookaburras and battered him all around. The whole Bulumat family started laughing, cheering Uar on on his winning battle.
     Everyone expected the two Jineik kookaburras to fly back into their territory, but instead the whole Jineik family flew out of the trees and both families, Jineik and Bulumat, were caught up in a full fledged battle, the loud calling of two families ringing through the entire forest.
     The kookaburras fought over something they needed; not territory, but food. If the Bulumat family got hungry, they could just steal food from humans. If the Dumeni family got hungry, they would have to fight another family, but they were rarely hungry. If the Jineik family got hungry, they would fight for a chance to get some food. This is why the Jineik family was attacking the Bulumat family. The Jineik family was so hungry they were starting to starve.
     Irind looked closely at the attackers. She had to find one that was her size...there! She saw another kookaburra who was a juvenile like her and had probably just learned to fly.
     "Don't start fighting. You're too young." said Ires, close beside her.
Irind didn't listen. She had to fight. If the Bulumat family lost they would have to let the Jineik family hunt in their territory for a while. Irind did not want that. she launched herself into the mass of battling kookaburras that were flying back and forth.
     "Irind!"


hungry night
     "Where did that kookaburra go?"
     "How should I know? But I do hear a lot of kookaburras over there. By the way, who cares? Kookaburras never hurt us."
     Thie, Brea, and Hurd were three Indian mynas sitting on a lonely tree branch where a kookaburra had sat before flying away to the call of another one rather recently.
     The three birds sat on the branch in silence for a while, before another bird flew onto their branch.
     This bird was different than Thie, Brea, and Hurd. The other bird was the same small size and had the same yellow coloring behind its eyes but it was white and light grey while Thie, for example, was black and dark brown. They recognised it as a noisy miner.


     "Hello. What have you been doing lately?"
     "Nothing. Just sitting here." chirped Thie.
     "For how long?"
     Hurd felt offended."Who have you been flying around with who's so energetic?"
     "I have seen a crowd of rainbow lorikeets. They were fast." The noisy miner replied.
     Then all four birds heard distant chattering. After a while, a cloud of rainbow lorikeets flew into the scene.
     "Where's the place?"
     "When will we get there, Gri?"
     "What did the tawny frogmouth look like?"
     The rainbow lorikeets crowded onto every little place in a tree. Gri, Eri, Foi, Hiera, and Karr had rejoined the flock and, being only one sixth of the group, they thought they would receive little attention, but the rest wanted to know every single detail about that hungry night. They were heading to a place where they would get plenty of food.
     The crowd of rainbow lorikeets flew away, leaving the other four birds sitting on the branch alone.


missing
     "Koo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-kaa-kaa-kaa-kaa-kaa-ha-haaa"
     Two families of kookaburras were battling. A kookaburra perhaps too young to fight flew into conflict.
     They were making a huge sound close to a house.
     A window opened. A hand reached out and threw a rolled-up newspaper at the kookaburras. They scattered.
     The kookaburras were softly chattering:
     "Did you get hit by it?"
     "Are you hurt?"
     "I knew it. We should have invaded the territory of the Dumeni family. They might be better at fighting, but they have more food, and they don't live close to humans."
     "Irind. Where's Irind?"
     No one had been hit by the newspaper. All of the kookaburras had flown away just in time. This had put an end to the fight, but all of the kookaburras were either bruised or their feathers had been pulled and ruffled up.
     The Jineik family inspected their injuries. Oitar, a mother of four eggs, noticed that one of the elders had a cut over the brown stripe across her head that made the top part of his beak not blue, but a velvet shade of purple. The father of Oitar's eggs had a cut in the same place, but it was not dripping over his beak. The bottom part of his beak stayed bone white. Oitar feared for these birds, because if they weren't fed properly soon they would get infected and die. And food was something the Jineik family desperately needed.
     Another kookaburra had been pecked in his eye and couldn't see, his tears so thick that no one could see the familiar brown of his eyes. He also had a cut in his left wing, and blood was flowing down the white and dark brown of his wings and the blue specks of his wings. All of the rest were less injured. Ohyr, one of the elders, had feathers so messed up that the bars of brown on his tail were impossible to see.
     Both families flew back to their hunting grounds. Oitar went to hunt for snakes on a stretch of flat rocks that was so windy flying took too much energy, and she just hunted close to the forest.
     After a lot of time passed and she couldn't find anything, she was about to ask Oarn, the youngest son of Ohyr, to help her hunt. But then she noticed something:
     Oarn...was missing.


a moth in disguise
     Gumbark and Redtree were walking across a rocky stretch to the place. The place where they always found lots of food waiting for them. The rocks were rough and sandy under their feet but it was worth it.
     "It's a great place. We'll never starve again." commented Redtree.
     "And now we don't have to worry about finding food for Krar's chicks once they hatch. Can you imagine? Plenty for all of us for seasons to come.", Gumbark agreed. If Krar's chicks couldn't hunt on the food in the place, they would probably die within a few weeks of hatching.

     The rest of the kookaburras did not notice that Irind and Oarn were missing until the end of the fight. Their own battle had continued long after the main one was over. They had separated from their fighting families and flown deep into the Jineik family's territory. They were flying along a long stretch of flat rocks where the family always hunted for snakes. The kookaburras were not making conversation or signaling with their laughing call.
     Oarn darted fast, aiming for Irind's chest. Irind dodged, making Oarn miss and have to break his flight by landing on a rock.
     Irind dived from a tree to batter Oarn with her wings and peck him in the eyes to drive him down onto the rocks, but Oarn was too fast. He flew onto another tree, leaving Irind turning around and flying back to her branch.
     "You are in my territory. Get out." Oarn threatened.
     "I don't have any injuries. Are you trying to fight or are you a moth in disguise?", Irind teased.
     "Kooaa", Oarn called angrily. "I don't have injuries either."


     The rainbow lorikeets were flying over the forest led by their quest to find a place with lots of food. They started flying when the sun was its highest in the sky. Now it was evening and they were flying over an expanse of big rocks that couldn't support any life except snakes. They were starting to wonder if the tawny frogmouth was right or if they were flying the wrong direction, but they kept going.


     Gumbark heard birds chirping. He looked up.
     Above him were two nests made of mud. They were in a tree at the edge of the woods, close to the place that the bush turkeys were trying to keep secret.
     "Where do you get your food?" said Gumbark, worried that someone might have found the place first.
     Two magpie larks poked their heads out of the nests. "Why do you want to know?" one of them inquired.
     "We are looking for food" Gumbark answered.
     "There are forests over there," the magpie lark chirped,"but the kookaburras who live there that hunt for snakes will not let you in."
     Gumbark was thankful that the magpie larks hunted on the kookaburras' territory instead of his place, the place they were going to.
     They were about to head into the forest when Redtree stood upright and told Gumbark that he saw some birds in the distance. Gumbark looked around and saw two kookaburras that seemed to be fighting each other.
     The kookaburras and bush turkeys were very far apart and the kookaburras had still not noticed that there were bush turkeys in sight.
     "This is for stealing food from the Bulumat family."
     "That was not me and it happened two years ago!"
     As the two kookaburras fought, they started flying toward the place where a lot of food thrived. The bush turkeys were staring at the kookaburras and did not notice the other birds flying over from another direction.
     Irind suddenly broke away from the fight and flew straight into the forest. Oarn flew after him to see if this was some sort of trick, but once both birds got there they couldn't believe their eyes.
     There was a big clearing in front of them, full of fallen trees and plants full of seeds.
     The kookaburras wanted to start hunting right away, but then a cloud of rainbow lorikeets flew into the clearing and started helping themselves to seeds and termites.
     Then Oarn raised his head.
     Irind flew into him, knocking him off the tree branch.
     Oarn raised his head again.
     Irind poked Oarn with her beak.
     Oarn jabbed his beak so hard into Irind that she fell off the tree branch, forcing her to fly to another branch in a blur of brown, white, and blue.
...In a blur of brown, white, and blue.

     There was nothing Irind could do about it now. Oarn raised his head and called;
     "Ohoohoohoohahahahahakakaaa"
     Irind would have to do something now. Pretty soon the whole Jineik family would come in response to Oarn's call. He could get killed and the Bulumat family would never know his wherabouts.
     Redtree ran into the clearing. He saw a flock of rainbow lorikeets and kookaburras eating the food he thought he and his friends would live on for weeks. He did not know what to do.
     Then Gumbark ran into the clearing and scratched one of the dead trees. His foot scraping across the damp wood made such a loud screeching sound that it could well have been heard by one of the kookaburras of the dumeni family. The rainbow lorikeets scattered.
     “This is our food”, Gumbark said to the other birds, “And you are not touching it.”
     It was exactly the wrong time for the Jineik family to arrive. They came into the clearing, swooping and soaring. Soon they all were in the clearing, marvelling at the food and glaring at the bush turkeys.
     The Jineik family apparently thought that the bush turkeys were threatening Oarn. They swooped and flew at the bush turkeys in anger.
     Gumbark was confused. Had the rainbow lorikeets and the kookaburras planned this whole thing? What had he done? The birds were not showing any signs of what they wanted or what they were trying to get revenge for. In his confusion, Gumbark clawed and pecked his attackers to keep them away.
     Redtree was also fighting. In his anger, he noticed that the rainbow lorikeets also started fighting him to defend the place. Redtree tried to fight off the rainbow lorikeets, but even though they had suffered a lot, they did not give up.
     Irind saw the confusion of all of the birds, and was able to trace back to the beginning of the battle; Irind fought with Oarn, Oarn called his family to show them the wonderful place, the bush turkeys came in, the Jineik family came and thought the bush turkeys were threatening Oarn... From what she figured out, the battle was useless!
     Without thinking, Irind cried “kooooaaaa!” as loud as she could, trying to break the fight and get everyone's attention. The other birds must have seen victory close by, but all Irind saw as she looked around was blood. It splattered on the ground. It covered the birds' feathers. She saw all the birds getting more and more hurt. If she didn't do something, someone would die.
    When the whole Jineik family looked towards her, she realised she had made a very big mistake.
     The Jineik family saw a kookaburra they did not recognise. She must have come from the Bulumat or Dumeni family. Mercilessly they attacked.
     Irind had never been hurt so much before. Struggling, she broke off from the swarm of kookaburras, flying back to her own territory.
     Gumbark watched the kookaburra fly away. They would have one less bird to fight.
     Eri dived through the air, striking one of the bush turkeys. She was about to turn around and fly back, but when she had her back turned, she felt something on her wing. It was like a branch had caught her while she was flying out of a dense tangle of vines.
     Then she felt herself being ripped from the air. The bush turkey had grabbed her. Soon it was pecking at her. Eri felt blood well up on her side. She couldn't breath. She struggled for what seemed like days, then the bush turkey suddenly let go. She lay on the ground.
     Foi saw Eri lying down, not flying. She couldn't be dead! Foi flew down and landed close to Eri to inspect her, but, suddenly, he felt a bush turkey pecking him in the back. He felt sticky wet blood well up on his side, and then collapsed in pain.
     The fight continued, and the bush turkeys were winning, as they often didn't fly during battle but had very strong legs. The rest of the birds had deep wounds, but they didn't give up.
     Foi looked and saw Eri slowly open her eyes. She was not dead after all.
     After a while, the rainbow lorikeets gave up and were about to fly away when Ker, one of them, said “I have an idea.” He flew over to one of the kookaburras.
     “We will have to co-operate to fight the bush turkeys. I have a plan.”, Ker told the kookaburra. Then he told the kookaburra his plan.
     The kookaburra told the rest of the Jineik family his plan, one by one, spreading it around, and Ker told the rest of the rainbow lorikeets in the same way. Soon everyone knew it. They were not ready to give up now.
     Redtree had fought for a long time now, and he still didn't have many injuries. Suddenly a rainbow lorikeet flew onto his head and scratched at his eyes. He was blinded as blood ran into them. He crouched down.
     Big mistake. Many kookaburras flew onto his back and tore at his feathers. Redtree threw them off of his back, but with infinite difficulty.
     Oarn was torn away from the bush turkey and was sent flying into the air. Then he saw feathers again. He pecked them very hard. Then Oarn noticed that these were not black feathers. They were green feathers. He stopped pecking.
     Then, due to another misunderstanding, the rainbow lorikeets turned against the kookaburras. They were very angry.
     “Our plan backfired!”
     “I should never have trusted you!”
     "You traitor!", shrieked the rainbow lorikeet, "You will pay for this!"
     Soon, all of the birds were in full battle with each other. But not for long. The battle broke up and all of the birds flew back to where they came from due to injuries. 

A final promise
    Gumbark went home with Redbark. Leaf looked in horror at their feathers, which were drenched in blood
    "What happened?", Leaf asked them.
    "The rainbow lorikeets and the kookaburras were better at fighting than we expected.", said Gumbark weakly.
    "Where's Krar?", said Gumbark.
    "I don't know."
    "Hold on.", Gumbark replied, "I am going to see her."
    Gumbark trotted off, Wondering if Krar was guarding the nest again. If she was, he would lecture some sense into her.
    Gumbark felt the warmth under his feet as he walked up the huge mound of leaf litter and sticks. He had taken a huge amount of time raking this together.
    Sure enough, he saw Krar standing on the mound, looking intensely at her surroundings. She looked at Gumbark.
    "Again!?", Gumbark crowed at her, "Why do you think those eggs are your right?"
    "Some got eaten by a snake!" she retorted, "Besides, I laid them!"
    Gumbark was angry. He was the only one who truly knew how to keep the eggs alive. "Well, let me see if you are doing a good job!"
    Gumbark poked his beak into the mound to test the temperature. Somewhere inside it were the eggs.
    He looked up at Krar. "They are too hot."
    Krar looked sadly at him. "Well, I'm sorry that I tried to go ahead and defend them. It is your responsibility. I promise I will not do that again, for the sake of our eggs."
    "Thank you.", said Gumbark, scraping off the outer layer of the mound to release the heat.

    Later, Gumbark, Redtree, Leaf, and Krar were nestling in a tall tree. Gumbark was the only one awake.
    What about the battle, the clearing, the other birds? It was foolish to fight over such a wonderful place.
    Gumbark stood up and looked over the dark rolling hills. He saw the territories of the kookaburras. How bad were their wounds? He found the distant shapes of the rainbow lorikeets. Were any of them awake now?
    He looked at his friends sitting with him in this tree. Had any of them learned a lesson?
    Gumbark knew that the clearing was too precious to fight over. Getting injuries so bad was worse than not getting all of the clearing, right?
    He knew that all of the birds should share this place equally.
    And, somehow, he knew that the whole forest agreed with him.
THE END

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