The Mockingbird's Song

The Mockingbird's Song
by The Burning Bush

Long ago there lived a young mockingbird named Eschel. Eschel was too young to find a nest of his own, so he lived with his mother.

One day as he was searching the forest for seed, he came across some other young mockingbirds.

Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
Why don't you come with us?
Took Took Took
We will repeat the calls of the blue jay
Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
Enough laughs for all.

Eschel did not understand. These birds spoke in an ever-changing song, but his mother never sang. And Eschel did not understand why they wished to repeat the calls of the blue jay.

Pooka, Pooka, Pooka,
You are a mockingbird, yes?
Dople, Dople, Dople
This is what we do.
Dorund, Dorund, Dorun,
This is why all birds envy us.
Teek Teek Teek
But you are still too young.

"No, no," Said Eschel. "Let me first get permission." And he flew back to his nest.

"Mother," Said Eschel. "Allow me to fly with some friends."

"Where will you fly?"

"To the blue jay. We wish to satire the blue jay." Said Eschel.

"Ah ..." Said, the mother. "How sad that my own son wishes to be like all the rest of the mocking birds ... Like the whole lot of our sadspecies."

"Mother, is this not our boast in life? That no bird can mock like a mockingbird?"

"It is our boast but also our greatest sorrow. For you see, no mockingbird is able to sing his own song."

"Could it be true?" Eschel thought to himself. "A bird that cannot sing a song of his own? How sad!" He said to his mother, "I do not understand that."

Eschel's mother spoke directly to him, "Son, you must not fly with the flocks of scoffers, or nest crookedly with the crooked, or join in the company of mockers. If you heed my words you will be happy."

The young mockingbird paused and said, "Yes, mother, I will obey you," Though he wasn't sure.

Several days later Eschel's mother said to him, "Son, I am growing old and it is difficult for me to fly. Please fly into the forest and find some food for us."

"Yes, mother, I will obey you," He spoke earnestly.

After he had traveled some distance he began to look for berries. The other mocking birds called out to him:

Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
Why don't you come with us?
Took Took Took
We will repeat the calls of the blue jay
Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
Enough laughs for all.

Eschel replied hesitantly, "Yes, lets do it."

The mockingbirds flew to the nest of the blue jay. They all hid in a closeby pine tree, and the oldest mockingbird called out.

"Tweeet! Tweet! Tweeeet!"

The blue jay began looking around.

"Tweeet! Honk! Honk! Tweet!"

The blue jay looked and saw the mockingbirds in the pine tree, and he lowered his head. The blue jay looked up again -this time at Eschel. Again, the blue jay lowered his head.

Eebrey, Eebrey, Eebrey,
That was superb.
Took Took Took
Let us pay our friend the owl a visit.

So the mockingbirds flew to the nest of the owl. They landed in a sycamore tree and peeked around the side of the tree at the owl.

The eldest mockingbird spoke softly at Eschel: "Well ... call out to him."

Eschel paused. Then he sang out:

Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!
Hoot! Honk! Honk!

Unlike blue jays, owls have excellent ears. The owl did not look around to find Eschel. He fixed both of his large, brown eyes on Eschel immediately.

The other mockingbirds took flight, but before Eschel left the sycamore he heard the owl answer back:

"Eschel!"
"Eschel!"
"Eschel!"

With every call Eschel felt as if the owl was setting aside every bird in history to call out to him. His call was not high and light like Eschel's own call. It was deep and he could feel it with his feathers.

Eschel imagined it was not the owl calling, but every flying creature who had ever lived in the forest.

"Come here, Eschel!"

Eschel flew down to the owl's branch.

"You can call out with that loud, young voice of yours ... or was that your voice?" The owl then said, "Do you also have ears to hear with?"

What was the owl asking? "Yes, yes. I have ears to hear with."

"Then hear me now, if you can. You are a mocking bird. The only song you know is the song of scorn, for you take what little solace these creatures have in the world and you mock them for it.

"Listen to me, Eschel, for I have learned many things in my time. The mockingbirds you travel with love to take gladness from the other birds, but the gladness they find is a lie and it is really a bitterness and an envy."

"Why is it bitter?" Asked Eschel.

"The cruelest of the mockingbirds wish they had their own song to sing, but they never find one because they are always mocking the birds, the owls, the forest, even heaven itself."

"What must I do?" Asked Eschel.

"Return to your mother. And do not join in the mockery of the mockingbirds. If you have no song to sing, learn to sing the song of silence, as I have learned."

"Before I leave, owl, allow me to ask only this question: 'If my song is a silent song, who will hear it?'" Asked Eschel.

"Leave me now." Said the owl. "And peace be with you."

Eschel left the owl and began to fly home. "I must gather some berries before I return or my mother will know where I have been." And he began to look for some berries.

While Eschel was looking for food, rain began to fall from the sky. Eschel did not take long to find a berry, but by the time he made it back to the tree there was a great downpour.

To Eschel's great astonishment he did not see his mother in the nest. He looked over one side of the nest, and then the other side, but he did not see his mother.

Eschel did not know where his mother had gone. She was becoming older and could not fly far from the nest. Where could she have gone? The ground below was now far beneath the water. Eschel wished his mother was back in the nest.

Eschel wept.

To the other birds it might have sounded like Eschel was not saying anything, but inside he was calling to himself, "How I have overlooked the good in others! How I have overlooked the oversight of my mother! How I allowed myself to be deceived by my friends!"

As the rain came down, so too did Eschel pour himself out to heaven. "Please, do not take my mother from me!" He said.

Late in the night Eschel fell asleep.

When Eschel awoke the nest was empty. And he said to himself quietly, "Yes, just as I took the good in my life as nothing, I now have nothing. This is all as it should be. I have what I deserve."

In the distance he saw a older mockingbird approaching. She was carrying food in her mouth, and it was his mother!

Eschel felt as though he was snatched off the earth and taken up into the heavens -as if some giant had seized him and lifted him up into the sky.

Freeblay! Freeblay! Freeblay!

He called out.

Freeblay! Freeblay! Freeblay!
Though I am the lowest of mockingbirds...
Freedid! Freedid! Freedid!
I have been extended all things!
Freebliss! Freebliss! Freebliss!
No song will ever convey
Freeblay! Freeblay! Freeblay!
The joy that is now mine.

He told his mother about the way he flew with the other mockingbirds and how he had mocked the owl. His mother listened and responded:

"Yes, that is how it is for us mockingbirds. Most of us laugh, and the few who do not laugh weep because we have laughed." She paused and said, "But the song I heard you sing was something new to me -even in my age. Where did you learn it?"

"The owl did not teach it to me, but he told me how to hear it."

And so Eschel continued to gather food for his mother. As he searched in the forest he would occasionally sing,

Freebliss! Freebliss! Freebliss!
No song will ever convey
Freeblay! Freeblay! Freeblay!
The joy that is now mine.

The other mockingbirds heard Eschel's song and they said to each other, "This fellow is making light of songs that are not sung by birds!" And they called out insults against him.

But every now and then another mocking bird would hear Eschel's song and say, "A song that is not from any other bird!" And they would teach it to the other mockingbirds.

And to this day, when you hear a mockingbird, he is probably singing the song of another bird, but every mockingbird has his own song which he may instead sing.