The old man and the magic bird.

In a small town just like yours there is a nice old man. He has no friends or family for one reason or another. Every morning he leaves his window open in his bright and airy dining room and every morning the same beautiful bird flies into his room and perches on his chair. 'Good Morning' it sings. Every evening at dusk the bird sings 'Good night' and flies off into the night. This special relationship gives the old man true joy.

One day the old man pops out of his house to get some more birdseed whilst the bird stays inside the house. It just happens that a thief sees the open window and decides to take a chance. Once in the house he realises that the old man doesn't have anything of value, in fact he doesn't have much of anything at all. Then he sees the bird. It's beautiful - the most beautiful creature he's ever seen with such fine colours. He catches it and puts it in his bag. He's very pleased with himself as he climbs back out of the window, thinking "My mum's going to be so pleased with me when I give this to her."

When the thief gets back to his dark, small flat his old mother is waiting for him, stirring a pot of watery soup on the cooker. Tapping her fingers and looking at her watch... "Well, what have you got for me then?" she says. He's so excited as he opens his bag, but when he picks up the bird he realises it's dead. Its colours have faded and when he presents it to her she's very upset. "What is that stupid animal? Where's the jewellery you promised? I would have been happy with some nice, not very used perfume..." and crying and screaming she throws the bird out onto the street.

The old man realises that something very bad has happened when he gets back home. The bird has gone and there are muddy footprints by the window. He can't stay in the house so he goes out to calm down and perhaps look for more clues. It's starting to get dark when he finds the little birds body in the road. He picks it up and cries. Tears fall down his cheeks and one lands on the bird. At once the bird transforms into a bright light and shoots off into the sky and is gone.

A few days later, the old man wakes up and opens his window (out of habit). As he turns he hears a flutter. Then a little voice says "Good morning" He can't believe it. He stands rooted to the spot, completely astonished. Before he can take a breath. Another bird, identical to this flies into his room and sings good morning, then another, and another until he has so many beautiful birds in his room he can no longer count them. He opens the packet of birdseed he bought the other day and he smiles the biggest smile an old man could.