THE MAGPIE AND THE RAVEN
Elara came home that evening, very
tired. And she was hungry. But the meal was not ready. So,
grumbling a little, she went to sit on the swing that her dad had installed for
her on a big branch of an oak tree, next to the shed where he stores his wood.
She lives in the middle of a large forest, two hours on foot or by bike from
the nearest village. Ten years old, this energetic young girl lives
happily in the woods and feels close to her animal friends around her. She
often ties her brown hair into two pretty braids that dance down her
back. She was wearing her old, well-worn denim overalls that day and
sneakers on her feet.
His mom would sometimes like to put a pretty dress on him, but she prefers her wildling outfit for running in the woods, bathing in lakes and rivers, helping her father with his hard work as a lumberjack or having exciting adventures.
She swayed gently under the trees.
Suddenly, she saw coming towards her a magpie and a raven who launched their
cries to who better-better.
Elara has an extraordinary gift. That of knowing how to talk to animals
and understand them. Not all. The four legs, the two legs, and the
snakes. An owl, which she named Puttoo when she was little, taught her how
to use this gift. Since then, she uses it very often. She therefore
understood well what these two birds were saying.
-Shut up. I'll speak for you, cried the magpie. You just know how to
do "croa, croa, croa". We don't understand what you're saying.
"Oh, you're pissing me off," replied the crow. Maybe I croak,
but you chatter. And with your black, white and blue feathers, you are
charming. But everyone knows you're just a thief.
- Me, a thief? Liar, jealous, filthy beast.
-Yourself !
-What is going on ? interrupted Elara.
-She began.
- No, he started.
-Lets go ! That's enough, our friend got angry. It sounds like two
five-year-olds in a playground. Pie, I'm listening.
"Of course," said the crow angrily. The magpie will
speak. As usual, she'll play the coquette, and I'll have all the blame.
"There is no 'as usual'," resumed the little girl. You will give
your opinion in turn when I tell you. I'm listening to you, magpie.
She said that she lived in a big tree, a lime tree. She was occupying it
long before the crow arrived on the scene. She had set up her nest high up
in the sun, at the top of a beautiful, strong branch. And then, this importunate
came to settle in the same tree, just below. Nasty animal !
-You, the crow, said Elara smiling.
- Don't listen to that liar. I was there long before her. She didn't
see me because I live on a lower branch, sheltered from the rains and
winds. And since then, I no longer feel at home.
- Good, said our friend. Wait for me, I'm coming to see.
Elara returned home.
-Mom ?
-Yes my darling.
- I still have half an hour before the evening meal?
- I think so, because I'm late.
-I can help you ?
-No thanks. You are nice.
- So, I accompany two birds to their tree and I come back.
Elara walked away and escorted the two adversaries to a splendid lime tree that
grew along the road a few hundred meters from her house.
-Where is your nest? asked our crow friend.
- There, at the end of this big branch.
It took off and landed to the left, just above the road.
- And I, explained the magpie, I live up there. Look at.
She stopped beside her nest.
Our friend watched the tree for a moment in silence.
- You couldn't choose one for each? I see thousands around us.
The birds did not respond.
"Okay," said the girl. Here is my decision. The trunk
splits in two. A strong branch rises to the sky. All the foliage she
wears belongs to the magpie. The other large branch moves away towards the
south, towards the sun. All the ramifications which grow in this space,
are with the crow.
"Great," he cried. I keep my territory and I'm very happy.
"Me too," agreed the magpie. I'm satisfied.
"Thank you," added the crow. If one day you need me, you can
call me. I will respond to help you.
- Me, said the magpie, I'm going to give you a present. You know, they
call us thieves, but it's not true. Only we have good eyes. And when
something shines somewhere, we take it away to decorate our nest. You,
when you walk in the forest, if you see a coin on the ground, do you leave it
there or take it?
-I pick it up, answered Elara.
- And you are a thief?
"No," said the little girl.
- You understand now. I do the same, continued the magpie. We like
shiny things. We have taste. We're not like those stupid
crows. I'm going to make you three gift proposals and you can choose the
one you prefer.
The bird went back and forth three times and successively placed at our
friend's feet a silver pen cap, a one euro coin and a small golden chain
enriched with a pretty green stone pendant.
- Here, choose. What do you want?
-The pen cap is nice, thinks Elara, but since the pen that comes with it is
missing, it's useless.
"Okay, I'll take it back," replied the magpie. However, it
shines well.
She picked him up and brought him back to her nest.
Elara was hesitating between the one euro coin, with which she could buy some
sweets in the village, and the golden chain with the pendant, the green stone. Finally,
she opted for the necklace and the jewel.
-As you wish, conceded the magpie.
Our friend saw the one euro coin go, with some regret, towards the magpie's
nest.
- Thank you, you are nice, smiles Elara.
-It was nothing. And when you want...
When she returned home, her parents were surprised to see this chain around her
neck.
-Who is giving you this pretty necklace? mom asked.
-A magpie.
The parents looked at the jewel for a long time in the light of the setting
sun. A wonder!
- My dear, this is not a simple fancy charm, but an emerald, a precious stone,
a jewel of great price. Elara, you can't keep it. It must be returned
to its owner.
-But the magpie gave it to me.
Papa took his daughter tenderly in his arms. He hugged her tight.
-Ma grande, we are not rich. I could never give you such a stone, but you
can't keep it. Someone is looking for this necklace. Ask the
magpie. Ask her where she found this item. Go to the
village. You may see an ad posted at the store. If no one claims this
jewel, then it will be yours. But if not, be honest and return it.
The next day, Elara returned a little morose, towards the big lime
tree. She called the magpie.
-I can't keep the emerald. Where did you take it?
-I found it at the bus stop, at the exit of the third village after yours,
explained the magpie.
The bird told in detail the story of its discovery and described the exact
place where it had seen the object.
In the afternoon, she got on her bike and followed the long dirt and mud road
that leads to the village. Then she pedaled to the third hamlet, where the
bus stop described by the magpie is.
A text was pasted on one of the panels of the shelter.
“Lost emerald of great value. Strong reward to
whoever brings it back to us. Contact the Villa des Roses”.
Elara inquired then went there. She laid her bike in the grass near high
closed gates. She looked for a doorbell but found none.
She pushed the heavy bars then closed behind her and entered the property.
She passed under tall trees, then crossed a meadow, in the
middle of which was a magnificent manor, almost a castle. She was walking
along neatly trimmed hedges when she heard fierce barking. Two large dogs
rushed towards her.
Our friend took fright. She climbed a nearby tree and sat on a branch. The
dogs began to jump and bark below her, baring their fangs, drooling and
growling their anger.
- No need to get tired. You will not reach me.
- Do you talk to animals?
- Yes, I understand your language, explained the little girl.
- Unheard of, the dogs wondered.
-Don't attack me, I'm not a thief.
-We are trained to scare everyone who enters the property.
-I understand, you are obedient. But with me, you are wrong. I am not
a thief, on the contrary. I come to deliver to your master or your mistress,
a lost precious stone.
- In that case, you can come. And then, someone who speaks to us like
this, with kind words, what happiness! Our mistress is just yelling at us.
"You won't hurt me, promise? Elara checked.
She jumped from the tree. The two dogs approached her and came to lick her
hands.
Accompanied by the two guardians, she walked towards the door of the
mansion. She climbed three stairs, while the two dogs walked
away. She rang. No one answered. Our friend, astonished,
insisted.
Then she heard a voice behind the door. The voice of a
child.
-What is going on ?
-I come to bring back a precious necklace that you have lost.
-It's my aunt's.
-What's your name ?
-Fabian. And you ?
- I'm Elara. Do you open to me?
-I don't have the key, said the boy. I'm going to slide the French window
from the living room. You can come in and wait for my aunt to
arrive. I spend a few days of vacation at her house.
He opened. Our friend entered.
- Are you locked up?
The boy stared at our friend with a slightly haughty pout.
-I can go out through the kitchen if I want, or through here.
Elara felt a little uncomfortable. The boy was staring at her, observing
her slightly dirty and worn clothes.
A car rolled down the driveway. The tires screeched on the gravel. She
stopped in front of the porch. A key was inserted into the lock. A
man and a woman entered.
The woman eyed our friend scornfully. She seemed angry.
- What is that girl doing here? she said, turning to the boy.
- Aunt, her name is Elara. She comes to bring you back your emerald that
you had lost.
The woman eyed our friend up and down with a disgusted pout. She looked at
her old, worn overalls, not very clean, her muddy sneakers, her slightly pale
little face…
-Give it, she said, holding out a gloved hand.
Elara took the gemstone out of her pocket and handed it to the woman.
-In effect. Alright, thank you. Ah yes, we promise a reward.
She turned to the man standing next to her. She whispered in his ear but
our friend heard.
- She's a little beggar. Give him twenty euros, it will be good.
The man handed the note to our friend. A nice sum for her…but she refused
this note, held out like alms.
"I'm not what you think," she said, looking him straight in the eye.
Then she turned on her heels and left the mansion, proud to have kept her
dignity.
As the door closed, she heard screams. Curious, she approached the open
living room window to listen, stooping down so as not to be seen.
-You can't let anyone in, you know that.
- But aunt, she brought back the precious stone.
- She heard nothing at least, and saw nothing?
- No, aunt. She heard nothing and saw nothing.
- In any case, this must not happen again.
Elara walked away, found her bike and left. She thinks while pedaling.
What could she see that she hadn't seen? What could she hear that she hadn't heard?
She thought about it all the way back. She had never
met such unpleasant, pretentious, smug people.
When she got home, she immediately went to the lime tree and called her friends
the magpie and the crow. The magpie was absent.
-I would like, crow, that you go to this villa of the roses.
She explained where the mansion was.
-I would like you to observe the place. Try to understand what is going on
there. Leads the investigation. You are capable of it. After
all, it was a crow that found Princess Aurora in the story of “Sleeping
Beauty”.
It straightened its beak and preened its feathers proudly.
-I am a smart bird. I am entrusted with a delicate mission. THANKS.
-Oh, that's fine, launched the magpie who had just returned. You are not
even able to distinguish a precious stone from an ordinary pebble.
The crow flew away and returned half an hour later.
-SO ? Elara asked.
-So. I sat on the fireplace. We investigate from there, the rest of
us. I noticed a strange smell, which I immediately identified as the smell
of paint. I said to myself: if it smells like this, it's because we're
painting. You see my intelligence... Something other than magpies... I
landed on one of the windows and I saw children playing in the attic with small
cars and wooden figures of all colors .
Elara was very surprised.
- How many were there?
"I don't know," thought the crow. I don't learn to count at
school.
-I'm going, offered the magpie. I will report additional information.
She walked away and came back an hour later.
-Well, our friend was getting impatient. You were long.
-Yes, but when I do a survey, replied the magpie, it is with precision and even
meticulousness. Not like crows, who do everything by halves.
-What did you discover? asked Elara, who thought that those two would
definitely never get along.
-I confirm the smell of paint coming out of the chimney. Then, leaning on
the window sill, I saw the children.
-How many are they ?
-Oh, I couldn't tell. Boys and girls. They play with small hammers,
pots of paint, brushes. They paint in silence or while chatting
softly. Two big dogs run in the garden. They hunt anyone who
Elara remained very surprised and very perplexed. She thanked the two
birds and returned home.
In the evening, after the meal and the shower, she opened her window and waited
for her owl. As almost every evening, Puttoo came to land there.
Our friend told her about her adventure. The owl promised to go to the
mysterious house. He flew away and came back a little later, very
agitated.
-What is going on? Elara asked.
-I saw the children the magpie and the crow were talking about. They don't
play. I don't think they're having fun. I saw one crying. He was
calling his mom.
-I'm beginning to understand...
-I was going to land on the roof, continued the bird, when I saw a woman going
up a wooden staircase. She stopped in front of the attic door. Next
to this door is a large blue pot. She reached in and pulled out a
key. She opened and then closed behind her. She held a whip in the
other hand. She yelled at the children.
"You're not working hard enough. If you don't move faster, I'll give you
less to eat.
-The children started crying. They looked tired and very unhappy. The
woman slapped a few, shook a few, and then came out, locking the door.
-My God, cried Elara indignantly, what horror! Mom and Dad once told me
about secret places where stolen children are forced to work as
slaves. Would it be a place like this?
"I don't know," murmured Puttoo. Then I leaned against the
window and with my beak I hit the pane. The children shouted "Oh! an
owl. He is beautiful!" They approached. A little girl spoke to
me.
"Wait, sweet little one. I don't know if you can understand me, but I'm
going to give you a message.
-She took a piece of paper and scribbled something. She rolled it up and
slipped it through a small slit in the window.
- Did you bring this paper? asked our friend.
-Obviously. I hold it in my paw, between my claws.
"You had to start by giving it to me," cried the little girl.
She unfolded the message.
"Help. We are stolen children. We are very unhappy. Come and free
us."
The next day, Elara wanted to talk to her parents about it, but they seemed
very in a hurry. They didn't take the time to listen to him. Dad was
behind in his work and Mom in her orders. Our friend, however, helped her
father all morning by gathering logs. But he was cutting with his
chainsaw. It was making noise. She put the logs away on a trailer or
along the way, as she often does. They couldn't talk to each other.
Around noon, her father thanked her for her generous help.
-You were very nice to work all morning with me. I caught up on my
delay. Thank you grandma.
Elara went home without saying anything, not wanting to cause her any trouble.
After lunch, she asked her mother for permission to go for a
long walk. She got on her bike and went to the lime tree. She called
the magpie and the crow.
-I need your help. Go to the villa of roses and wait for me in the trees
that surround it. Bring along as many friends as you can.
- Me, said the magpie, I will come with my three cousins and some others.
- Me, affirmed the raven, I will round up all those that I know. Count on me. We will probably be a hundred.
-Bravo, congratulated Elara.
Then she left for the village. She pedaled again and arrived near the
villa of roses around three o'clock in the afternoon.
A car approached the gates and was about to leave the property.
Elara hid on her stomach in the tall grass of the
ditch. She recognized the man and the woman she had met the day before at
the manor. Then she took advantage of their absence to enter the garden.
The dogs came barking. Our friend tells them to calm down and stop the
noise. They replied that the last time, when they had let our friend pass,
they had been deprived of food and whipped. So this time they didn't want
to let her go.
Elara patted them, caressed them, talked to them and finally, she asked them
for help to save the children locked up.
What worried our friend now was Fabien. What role did he play in this
case? She rang the doorbell several times. The boy finally answers.
-Yes ?
- It's me, Christina.
- You mustn't come, I can't let you in.
- I have to explain something important to you.
-No way. I won't open the door, grumbled Fabien.
She walked around the mansion accompanied by the dogs she continued to pet to
make friends. She slipped on all fours through a large cat flap.
Elara found herself face to face with the boy in the living
room.
- Do you know that up there in the attic, children taken prisoner by your aunt,
and probably stolen, live locked up like slaves?
- Yes, answered Fabien. These are not my things.
- Do you know that these poor children have to work all day. Do you know
that your aunt whips them and deprives them of food if they don't go fast
enough?
- It's none of my business, I tell you.
The girl looked him straight in the eye.
- You really are a wimp, a coward, a selfish. Me, I have a
boyfriend. His name is Matthew. He is a brave man. He would
never tolerate something like that in his house. Now I'm going to free the
children, since your aunt and her companion are gone.
"It's out of the question," exclaimed Fabien, who rushed up the
stairs.
Elara climbs two steps.
-I'm warning you, I want to go.
-And me, even if you are a girl, I will hit you if you go upstairs.
- Hit the girls. You're even worse than I thought, shouted our
friend. Yes, I'm a girl, but I know how to fight. I'm not afraid of
you.
She climbed two more steps.
The boy tried to push her down. Elara clung to the bars. Fabien kicked him. Our friend grabbed the boy's leg and slid him down. She pushed him again. He fell down the stairs. He began to cry, miserably.
-I'll tell my aunt. She'll lock you up there with the others.
While our friend was carrying out this heroic operation, the
woman in the car suddenly spoke to her companion.
- We have to turn around. I forgot my bag at the villa. Come on,
let's go back. Fast.
Elara ran upstairs, before Fabien caught up with her. She reached the
attic door. She grabbed the key from the blue vase described by her owl
and opened the door.
- I come to deliver you, children. Accompany me.
She saw a dozen.
They put down what they were holding and went down the stairs.
At the same time, the car passed through the gates and stopped in front of the
house.
The man braked. The tires squealed.
The children arrived at the foot of the stairs in the living
room. The door to the mansion opened.
The man and his companion entered the room and saw the spectacle. The
woman began to scream, threatening the children with severe
punishment. Half of them were crying. Some were already going
up. Elara no longer knew what to do. The two dogs came
barking. The woman ordered them to attack our friend.
-So, what are you two waiting for? Bite, bite! Attack this girl!
- No, cried Elara, in dog language. You're not going to hurt me. Who
caresses you? Me. Who gives you the whip? She. On the
contrary, I command you to drive out these wicked people and help me to deliver
these poor children.
The two dogs obeyed our friend. They turned against their
masters. The woman and the man ran off in their car. They shut
themselves in there.
The two dogs circled around the vehicle.
During this time, Elara, accompanied by all the children, arrived at the
threshold of the manor. She called the magpie and the crow. She saw a
host of them in the trees on the property.
-Attack the car, shouted our friend.
A hundred birds surrounded the vehicle which was now driving
blindly. Many of them even dared to land on the windshield. The
driver, who could no longer see anything, veered off the road and hit a tree.
Elara turned one last time before slamming the door in Fabien's face. She
yelled at him what she was thinking.
-Something terrible happened here. I don't think you realize
that. You will have to think very hard to understand because it is
serious.
She ran with the children to the police station. She got there
quickly.
The parents were immediately summoned. Soon there was a moving reunion in
the presence of our friend whom we congratulated at length for her courage, her
generosity, her audacity.
The man and the woman were taken to prison. As for Fabien, he returned to
his parents. Both dogs were adopted by a welcoming family.
Elara got back on her bike and went back to her forest, whistling. Proud
and happy. The magpie and the crow accompanied him.
"You were wonderful," she told them. Congratulations.
-I am the best, cried the crow.
"I'm the best," answered the magpie.
It's starting again, thought our friend. These two will never get along...
