C a r o l  R u b e n s t e i n
LIGHTFEATHER

Lightfeather was born to a tribe that lived on the edge of a great canyon. The land was marked by a rapid river, deep forests and distant vistas. As a young girl, Light Feather knew in her heart how special it was to live in the midst of such beauty.

All of nature was her playground. Lightfeather would venture off for whole days, climbing, exploring and imagining, careful to watch as the sun moved in the sky, returning along her pathways to the tribe before sunset.

Lightfeather especially liked to climb. She would challenge the heights of the greatest trees to catch a glimpse of the distance as it spread before her like an endless blanket.

Standing at the canyon's rim, Lightfeather imagined being a bird. She could feel herself in flight, catching the wind and drifting with a current of air…

Lightfeather pictured exotic people and animals in far away lands. "If I could fly," she thought, "I would journey great distances and learn the languages of many." She stood quietly under her favorite tree and listened as the cool air of fall howled along the stone walls of the canyon.

Lightfeather stayed there for a long time with her eyes closed and her heart open to the earth and the air. Then suddenly the sound of the calming wind was joined by a chorus of chirping! She looked up and saw a nest full of newly hatched birds! They were crowded together and perched among the branches of a mighty oak tree.

Her new-found feathered friends sounded distressed and there was no sight of their mother nearby. Maybe another animal was threatening the baby birds! Lightfeather decided to climb the mighty oak. Maybe she could help!

Carefully she traversed the oak's great arms, moving back and forth across the tree, until she reached the very top. Lightfeather found three eaglets huddled in the nest! They were unharmed... but hungry and cold, calling for their mother and the food she would bring.

Lightfeather looked out across the canyon hoping to see the mother eagle. The chicks were chirping frantically. Probably their mother had been gone a long time trying to find something to feed her eaglets. The fall season was known for scarce food supplies as animals burrowed for the winter or migrated south.

But Light Feather was satisfied that the eaglets were in no harm and she began to climb down the great tree. Then, as she stretched her leg towards a limb below, a length of leather from her buckskin dress became caught in the branches!

The light was growing dim as the sun grew nearer and nearer to the horizon. Lightfeather knew she must loosen herself from the tree very soon or she would have to find her way home in the dark.

She paused, considering how to untangle her dress, and at that moment, the sound of wind in the trees was deafened by the shrieking of the mother eagle diving towards Lightfeather!

It was clear, the mother bird thought her eaglets were in danger! Lightfeather couldn't move. Never had she known such fear. The eagle circled the tree, swooping and shrieking closer and closer to Light Feather.

The eaglets chirped frantically. They were all frightened, Lightfeather, the eaglets and their mother. "I must tell them I mean no harm!" thought Light Feather.

"I know you do not speak my language." Lightfeather began, "My words may be mysterious, but surely you can understand my voice… I understand yours."

Again and again Lightfeather told the mother eagle and her eaglets, "I mean no harm, I came to help." And then the mother eagle made a final swoop towards Light Feather!

She thought certain the mother bird would attack… but something miraculous happened instead! The powerful wings of the mother eagle fluttered to her side as the great bird landed on the branch next to Lightfeather.

Then with her sharp beak, the great bird bit through the leather strand, freeing Light Feather from the tree. The mother eagle and Lightfeather looked each other. their eyes met and for that brief moment they spoke the same language. There was no fear, only deep understanding between two living creatures of the Earth.

Lightfeather knew though she was a girl of the canyon and the forest, and the eagle a creature of the sky and great distances, they were not that different after all.

Carol Mason Rubenstein