The pretty little bird loved to sing and fly, feel the air in its wings, the song of other birds, joining their songs and painting the world in the most beautiful colours with it. One day, it saw a man watching it fly. Curiosity was its nature and the man stood very still, waiting for the bird to come to him. It chose to sit on a boulder near to him and the man did not move. It didn't feel threatening so the bird watched closely. Other birds sang and flew by, and the bird warbled in answer, rejoining its flock. Over time, it landed closer and closer to the man who came and watched it day after day. Sometimes, he would bring kernels to pick from the ground or fresh spring water. Only the best for the little bird. It came to trust him more and more, so that one day, it flew into his outstretched hand, nuzzling its beak lovingly in his palm. "I have brought you a gift", the man said and put the tiniest collar onto the little bird. Sparkling like the sun, with its name etched into the fine leather. It didn't question the collar, because the man was safe, right? The man would never hurt it and wanted the best for the pretty little bird who sang and flew so beautifully. "For you, little bird. So that I always recognise that you are my little bird", the man said. "I could not bear if I'd loose you out of sight."
It didn't question the man when he brought it back home to his house and clipped its wings. "So you do not injure yourself, when you fly too high, little bird", the man said. "I could not bear if anything happened to you!"
It didn't question the man when he put it in a golden cage with finest feathers as bed and the tastiest food you could imagine for a bird, fresh spring water included. "Only the best for you, little bird. I will give you all my attention and love, forever. I could not bear if you would want for anything."
The little bird truly could not wish for anything more and, for a time, the little bird did not wish for anything. It had a sparkling collar, each day a new one. It had food, and love, and safety. But as each day passed, the collar became tighter and tighter. The food became stale and boring, the same spring water every day.
"I love you so much, little bird", the man said. "I just knew that you'd come back to me, that you chose me. I could not bear to see you go."
The birds outside sang and beckoned the little bird. When the bird tried to claw the collar off its throat and opened the cage door to hop outside, the man asked: "Why would you leave? Don't you know how much I love you? Come back to me, little bird. You know I miss you so, when you're gone." And the bird relented, seeing the sadness in the man's eyes, hearing his longing in his voice. So it turned its back to the outside, to the warbling of its flock and to the open sky.
Too late, the little bird realised that the collar constricted its voice with each passing day, so only whispers came out instead of warbles. It tried calling out to its flock but they could not hear it anymore. That its clipped wings prevented it from flying so it could only hop on the ground. That the cage prevented it not only from danger but also from cuddling with the other birds, feeling their warmth and downy feathers.
When the little bird opened the cage and hopped outside of it, trying desperately to sing but only croaked silently, the man came and asked: "Why would you leave me? Don't you know how much I love you? Haven't I fed you and gave you a safe cage? I care for you so you do not have to want for anything. I will miss you so much if you leave me." The man took the little bird gently in his hands and put it back in the cage. "Promise you won't hop outside again, little bird. I would not wish for you to be hurt! You know how dangerous it can be outside and I could not bear if anything happened to you." He changed the collar to a newer, even more sparkling one. He changed the lock on the cage and filled up the food and water. He put some more downy feathers in it for the bed. "Oh little bird, I am so happy to have you. I am so glad that you are mine. Can you imagine? All these time and you are still here!" And the little bird only warbled silently in its heart. It came back one too many times.
In its dreams, the little bird remembered the vastness of the blue sky. The multifaceted songs of its flock. It remembered that song exists. It remembered that flight and curiosity exist. So one day, it asked the man: "Don't you yearn for the sky? Don't you know the songs of sky and wind and air? Of your wings against the current, of thermal winds lifting you up and high? Don't you hunger for the safety and freedom of your flock?"
"Why should I yearn for the sky, for I do not have wings?" the man asked back. "What songs should I know except the ones you sang to me so sweetly once? What wings do you speak of, as I have only legs to walk and arms to swing? Why should I go high up when I got you down here on earth with me, little bird? What freedom and safety do you speak of when all I see is danger of falling and the unknown? Which flock do you speak of, little bird? I do not need the sky - I have you. I do not need songs except yours. I do not need wings because I do not want to fly away from you. All I ever wanted is here with me, I do not want for anything, little bird. I love you so much, don't you know? This here is enough for us two. Just you and me, little bird. Aren't we the luckiest people alive?"
And the bird fell silent. Didn't it have everything a bird could ever want for? Food, safety, someone who loved it endlessly?
But the sky kept beckoning and its flock kept singing. It tried to silence them. It tried harder every day to sing for the man its sweet song but the collar silenced its voice. "Why aren't you singing anymore, little bird? Don't you love me anymore?" The little bird wanted to tell the man that of course, it loved him very much but the sky was so bright and its flock was so loud, and it had forgotten how to sing its song. For the melody was its flight in the sky and the words were the joy of the sun on its feathers.
The little bird realised that it hungered for the sky. To be near it again, to feel the sun on its beak, the wind in its feathers. It realised that the collar was just too tight for it to sing properly. That the cage hadn't been opened in a long time. That it could no longer warble in joy. That flight and curiosity and joy were no luxuries the man needed - but the very essence that made the little bird the little bird. Its nature was to fly high, soar through the sky, dive down to the cliffs, and nest in crevices across the mountains. To warble and sing through thunderstorms, to screech in excitement when meeting other birds of the same feather. To feel the air rushing underneath its feathery wings.
It realised that the man's love suffocated it, slowly making the little bird wither into something unrecognisable, no longer a creature of the sky but something warped, foreign, and earthly. The man loved it very much, but his love was laced with fear of the bird not returning to him. The love had turned to control, and the safety it had once felt with the man had become its cage.
There were no bars to break out of. No chains to break free from. There had never been a collar and its wings had never been clipped. The man's fear and sorrow and love had build a cage out of words around it. His sadness of seeing it fly away had forged a chain so strong that no hammer could break it. His hold on it had become strangling like a collar, silencing its song. It had stopped flying away out of love for the man, not because of clipped wings. Out of love, it had stayed.
But the sky is too bright. The sun too warm. The birds are too colourful, singing their song and beckoning the little bird to join them. Air rushes in through a crack in the man's house and the bird inhales deeply the sweet scent of a forest, of summer rain freshly fallen, of mossy earth and icy peaks - a promise of heights and sights to behold, if it would just try and fly again. The little bird doesn't know how, anymore. Its wings are weak, its voice broken.
But the sky exists and the song exists. And it swears to itself never to forget the sky and the song again, no matter what comes next.
