The Moon Egg
By
Valerie L. Egar
Of all the animals
in the forest, only the Blue Jays knew the latest gossip. Like the town criers of
olden times who shouted news from street corners, cries of “Jay, jay, jay!”
alerted all the birds and animals to gather for an announcement.
“Fox has
discovered a great treasure!” Jay cried from the top of an oak tree.
“It is small and round like the moon, and
though it does not move, it has a beating heart,” shouted another.
All the animals
waited expectantly to see Fox’s treasure, and Fox soon appeared. He gently
placed a small silver disc in the clearing. The animals gathered around to take
a closer look.
“Indeed, it is
round like the moon,” observed Squirrel, “and smaller than a horse chestnut.”
“Silver on one
side,” said Otter, who touched it gingerly. “But the other side has a design at
the edge of the circle with two lines pointing at the design. Might it be a
young turtle?”
Turtle moved
forward and examined it. “Not a turtle,” she pronounced. “Definitely not.”
“It’s alive,” said
Fox. “Listen.”
“Is that a heart
beat?”
“It doesn’t sound like a heart,” said Bear. “My heart goes thumpa-thumpa. That goes
ti-ta,ti-ta, ti-ta.”
“Well, you’re a
grown bear!” said Fox. “Not a baby whatever.”
“But it doesn’t
move,” said Wolf, prodding it with its foot. “Animals move.”
“Not if it hasn’t
hatched yet,” admonished Mourning Dove. “If it’s an egg, we need to keep it
warm.”
“I’m not giving it
up,” said Fox. “I found it.”
“We can take
turns,” said Bear. They decided each animal would keep the egg warm in shifts
of one hour each until it hatched.
The first day
proceeded without incident.
On the second day,
Wolf began to wonder whether the moon (or whatever hatched) would belong to him
if it hatched when he was keeping it warm. Fox wondered the same thing.
“What if it something
delicious hatched?” Bear thought. “Would the animals share with each other?”
The animals began
bickering. Squirrel tried to change her time with Fox because she noticed the
egg glowed in the dark and she liked watching
it at night.
The
bickering turned fierce and soon the animals were arguing. “I’ve put in the
most hours!” “My fur is warmer than your
thin feathers!” “I found it and it’s mine!” The howls and growls could be heard
all over the forest. They argued so long, they forget about warming the egg.
When they finally remembered, the ti-ta, ti-ta, ti-ta inside had stopped.
“You
killed it!” shouted Fox to Bear.
“Me?
Mourning Dove started the argument!”
“Did
not.” The fighting resumed.
The
Jays sounded an alert for Owl to put matters to rest. Owl was a wise judge and
esteemed by all the forest animals for her wisdom. She swooped in and took her
post on the branch of an ash tree.
“These
beasts have murdered my moon baby,” the Fox cried. “At least I think it was a
moon baby. But whatever it was, they’ve killed it!” He held up the round silver
disc all of them had been keeping warm.
Owl
looked at the round object, turning it over in her talons.
“It’s
heart was beating until the fighting started,” yelled the Jays.
“All
Bear’s fault,” whispered Mourning Dove.
“Silence!” screeched
Owl. She viewed them sternly. “This is called a watch. Unlike us, humans have
no sense of time and need something to tell them when to eat and sleep.”
The animals
started to giggle. “Imagine not knowing when to eat!” “I sleep when I’m
tired!” Soon they were laughing so hard,
they’d forgotten their anger.
Owl dropped the
watch in the nearby lake where it sank to the bottom and sparkled for the fish.
Published November 4, 2018 Biddeford Journal Tribune (Biddeford, ME)
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