Bright and cheerful sunrays danced on the flowers and trees. “Get up! Get up!” said mother bird to the little bird who was lazily sleeping in the nest.“Rise and shine, it’s a beautiful morning,” she said.
“Oh do let me sleep a little bit more!” yawned the little bird.
“We birds have to get up early in the morning! I have taught you how to fly. Now it’s time for you to fly out and search for breakfast by
yourself.”“I’ll have my breakfast later,” said the little bird shutting his little eyes even tighter.
“There’s a saying ‘the early bird gets the worm!’ If you are late there won’t be any left for you,” said his mother.
The little bird flew out of the nest still feeling sleepy. As he looked down through his sleepy little eyes, he saw a worm crawling on the ground. “There’s breakfast!” said the little bird, now fully awake and excited. Swiftly he flew down and stood before the worm.
“Good morning breakfast!” said the little bird. “I am glad I came on time!”
“Breakfast? Where?” asked the little worm trying to look brave, although he was shocked at the sight of a bird. “You are going to be my breakfast today!” said the little bird. “Now wait just a minute!” cried the little worm trying to sound fierce and annoyed. “What makes you think that I am going to be your
breakfast?”
“But that’s what my mother said,” said the little bird. “She said, the early bird gets the worm!”
The little worm knew by now that this was the first day the little bird had come out alone in search of food. If not he would have gobbled up the little worm without trying to explain things. The little worm also knew that there was a truth in the saying. But he was not ready to become
anyone’s breakfast. ‘I must think hard and get rid of him!’ he thought.
“Well, if the early bird gets the worm, what about us early worms? Does that mean we should end up as someone else’s breakfast, just because we were early to rise?” he asked the little bird. “Well, I forgot to ask my mother about that…” said the little bird who was quite confused by now. “And it says nothing about the worm becoming the breakfast of a bird. It just says ‘the early bird gets the worm’. Why, it could mean
anything!”
“Well, if it’s not for breakfast what’s the point of a bird
getting a worm?” asked the very
confused little bird.
“Who knows!” shrugged the
little worm. “Maybe to play! Maybe to have a chat with!”“Hmm…maybe you are right. But what do you suppose I should get for breakfast then?”
“You’ll think of something!” said the little worm. “When the trees are full of ripe fruit, why do you want to eat something disgusting like a worm?”
By now the little bird was
convinced by what the little worm said. “Well since the saying goes ‘the early bird gets the worm’, and since I did find you, what am I to do with you?” asked the little bird. “Well, you did get me fair and square! So maybe we should play!” said the little worm.
“Oh good!” said the little bird caught in the excitement and
forgetting all about his breakfast. “What shall we play?”
“Let’s play hide-and-seek!” said the little worm. “I’ll hide and you’ll search for me!”
“Alright, quickly hide then!” the
little bird said covering his eyes with his wings.
The little worm quickly crawled under a rock and started to dig deep into the ground, so deep that the little bird would never find him again. “I know it’s true that the early bird gets the worm,” he said to himself, “but this time it’s the early worm that got a silly little bird.” |
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