CLARA Chapter 5 Singing With Sparrows

The day was hot and Clara had gone quite some distance from where she had left Karla the Cow with her little calf in the pasture. She came to a beautiful oak tree in the meadow. It was shaded and cooler beneath the tree so Clara stopped to rest for a little while. It was hot walking in the meadow in the bright sunlight. Before long Clara would be looking very pink indeed.

Above her, in the tree branches the birds were chirping and singing. It was such a lovely music that Clara listened and listened. She loved hearing the birds sing. Oh what a beautiful day it was to go on an adventure.

As Clara listened to the birds singing in the tree above her she wondered if pigs could sing. She had never heard of a singing pig but she had never tried before either. It would be wonderful to learn to sing like the birds in the tree. Oh what a wonderful adventure that would be and she might become the only singing pig in the whole wide world.

Clara listened and then she cleared her throat and began to sing, well sort of, all she managed was a few sour oinks. It didn't sound quite right so Clara tried again; and again and again but she still didn't sound so lovely as the birds in the tree above her.

“Oh Clara,” Sybil Sparrow chirped sweetly as she flew down from the tree and settled on the ground next to the little pig. “It is nice of you to want to sing along with us, but Clara, you are singing way off key. Must you really try to sing? Never in my life have I heard a pig sing before and to be very honest, Clara, I hope I never hear a pig try to sing again. That was just awful. Clara, pigs do not sing.”

“Oh,” Clara said. “Well maybe if I practice I will get better and really learn to sing. I could be the first singing pig in the whole wide world.”

“I don’t think so, Clara,” Sybil said. You have a lovely voice for a little pig but you will never sing like a sparrow. Please don’t disrupt our choir practice with your sour notes.

What are you doing out here so far from the barnyard anyhow? Sybil flew up to one of the lower branches and looked down at Clara. “Go back to the barnyard where you belong, Clara,” Sybil chirped.

“I’m taking a walk. I’m going on an adventure. I don’t like to have to stay in my little piggy pen just eating and sleeping and eating again, day in and day out. I want to have adventures like Henry the hound and run in the meadow like Peter the pony. I’m going to be the first adventuring pig in the whole wide world and see and hear and learn new things. Do you think I could learn to sing like you, Sybil, do you, if I practiced really, really hard?

“I don’t think so, Clara. Sparrows are sparrows and pigs are pigs and you will never sing the sparrows song. That’s not what pigs were meant to do but you do have a very nice voice for a little pig. That is a very nice oink you have but please don’t sing with us.” Sybil few higher up into the tree and again joined the chorus of birds singing in the branches above Clara.

Clara could hear the other birds twittering and tuning up their voices for their next song. She listened for a few more minutes and then went on her way. Maybe she couldn't sing like a sparrow but at least she did have a very nice oink, Sybil had said so. Maybe if she practiced really, really hard she could learn to sing, well sort of, even if it was just a few piggy oinks on key.