The frozen sparrow

As an introduction I would like to tell you a story I was told as a child by my grandparents. Or, to be true, I wasn´t as much a child, I was more of an adolescent- but this isn´t that important. I really liked the story and although I´ve never really forgotten it, it was much later when I grasped its depth. And I´d bet I´ll reach even deeper when I remember it yet 20 years later, and so on.

When I tried to look up the origins of the story I got as far as Siberia. From there it reached our country via oral lore through many mediators. The version I found on internet differs a bit from the one I heard. But with stories like this there never is only one „right“ version, because the ultimate truth they bear is not affected and so I will tell you the variant which I heard (originally in Hungarian) from my grandpa.

The frozen sparrow

Once upon the time there lived a little sparrow.  It was wintertime and the sparrow found nothing to eat in the forest. Therefore he decided to leave it and fly to open fields. But as soon he left the protecting boughs he was blown away by a gust of chilly wind. His wings got numb and he fell to the ground, where he got covered by soft rime during night. The sparrow was dying.

As it happened, in the morning a cow passed by and when it was just above the little bird she lifted her tail and relieved herself.  The soft dung dropped right on the spent birdie and covered it from head to toe. It was warm and released streaks of vapour into the chilly air. Even the sparrow felt it´s beneficial effect as it pulled him back from the grasp of death. After it got warmed and recuperated, the little bird pushed its head through the brown droppings and twittered.

In that moment he was noticed by a wandering cat which didn´t hesitate, pulled the sparrow out of the dung and ate it. The end.

And the moral? Not everyone who shits on your head, is necessarily your enemy. However, not

everyone who pulls you out of that shit is necessarily your friend. 

Addendum: When you happen to be deep in shit, don´t twitter.