The Jackdaw with a broken wing
The Jackdaw with a broken wing
By David Binelli ©2022 DM Binelli. All Rights Reserved 2068 words
On the edge of a lovely garden in a village not too far from here there lived a family of Jackdaws high up in an oak tree.
Under the oak tree was a small white garage with its roof covered by a thick layer of moss.
Many of the local birds loved to walk up and down the garage roof, rummaging through the moss looking for juicy insects and throwing big lumps of mud and old moss onto the driveway below.
One fine and sunny day, some of the young Jackdaws were playing noisily, high up on the boughs of the oak tree when the youngest, Johnny, missed his footing and slipped.
He tumbled down through the branches franticly flapping his wings and trying to grab hold of a branch, a leaf, anything…but with no luck. Seconds later he landed on the driveway below with a thump...He bounced like a mouse on a bed of moss but with feathers flying everywhere.
One of the Jackdaws looking from the tree above turned to another Jackdaw and cringed.
“Oooh….that must have hurt.” He said.
Johnny staggered to his feet, a bit dazed and shaken. He looked up into the tree and shouted “it’s alright….I’m ok.”
With that, the other Jackdaws made such a racket cawing and cawing….That’s the noise Jackdaws make when they’re laughing…cawing….Fancy falling out of the tree like that they all thought.
At that moment the sky seemed to darken, and then the noise from the Jackdaws stopped…It was Crows…lots of Crows...Johnny’s friend Jack shouted down from the branches.
“Quick Johnny, fly up here…the Crows are looking for a fight.”
Johnny bent down as Jackdaws do when they’re getting ready to spring into the air, spread his wings….but …”OW”….his right wing was hanging down and it hurt so much....He must have broken his wing when he fell….what was he going to do?
By now quite a few of the Jackdaws had jumped out of the tree and flown down to see what Johnny was doing. Some were on top of the garage and others were on the ground.
“Come on Johnny, quick, into the air.” ….
“I can’t” he shouted in panic “I think I’ve broken my wing….what shall I do?”
“Run….hide….the Crows’ll get you” one of his friends cried excitedly.
As Johnny started to move, a crow came from nowhere and thumped into him, knocking him over.
There was a scuffle and then another crow started to peck at him…that hurt….crows have really big heavy black beaks…not nice to be pecked by. Johnny ran and hopped towards the middle of the grass next to the garage …..He was trying desperately to get away. Some of the Jackdaws flew down from the garage roof and joined forces with their friends on the grass managing to push back the crows…this gave Johnny time to hide down the side of a shed next to the garage….he was panting and very scared.
The Jackdaws were hugely outnumbered so they had to retreat back to the relative safety of the oak tree, leaving young Johnny behind.
As Johnny hid down the side of the shed, he could hear the crows squabbling and cawing…..hopping around looking for him. He stayed as still and as quiet as he could, hoping they would lose interest and go away.
After a few minutes it all went very quiet and he heard Jack, his friend, whisper….
“Johnny…where are you…are you all right?”
“Jack…I’m here” he whispered back showing his face from the down the side of the shed “Have the Crows gone?”
“Yes…they’ve flown away for now but they’ll be back.”
Johnny was very frightened and was trying to be brave.
“Jack, go and tell my parents where I am and tell them what’s happened...quickly.”
Jack wasted no time and flew off to tell the grown-up Jackdaws what had happened….he wasn’t sure what good it would do but they needed to know.
Very soon Johnny’s parents and just about all the adult Jackdaws were back in the garden trying to work out the best thing to do….after much discussion and flapping of wings they decided Johnny should stay hidden behind the shed and they would come back as often as they could to make sure he was alright.
You see…the problem for any bird with a broken wing is they can’t fly…..and if they’re stuck on the ground it can be very dangerous. All sorts of other animals would love to get their hands on a big bird like a Jackdaw…..a fox, a dog, crows and the most feared of all….a cat...we all know cats chase and catch birds.
Anyway, it was decided Johnny would stay hidden here for as long as it took for his wing to heal…and that could take a long time.
Johnny’s mum wrapped her wings around him.
“Try not to worry and we’ll be back as soon as we can”.
His dad looked him in the eye and said in a stern but fatherly way “keep well hidden, son, keep out of sight and stay safe.”
One by one all the Jackdaws left until there was just Johnny and his parents. “You two go” Johnny said with a tear in his eye “I’ll be ok….I’m good at hiding.”
Mum and dad Jackdaw flew up into the trees as Johnny stood there waving with his good wing, quickly realising he needed to be out of site. He found a nice little hole in the hedge beside the shed to hide in and stayed there most of the time…hidden from view and away from prying eyes.
Every so often his friends would come by to say hello and ask how he was and his parents came morning, noon and evening with food…and a warm, wing-hug.
Although everyone came to see him there was a lot of time he spent on his own and he was getting very lonely and missed playing with his friends.
The worst time of all was night time…when it was dark…he could hear all sorts of strange noises. He didn’t like it and wished he was back in his favourite tree roosting with all his friends…he felt safe there.
One very damp, dark night, Johnny was feeling very sorry for himself. It had been raining hard all day so he had been sheltering under a very prickly and overgrown bramble bush. Suddenly he heard a noise….over the days and nights he’d been there he had heard many strange noises but this one was different…..a sort of snuffling, grunting, sniffling sort of noise….not very loud….and moving around…getting closer and closer…..and closer.
Johnny was getting scared now…what was it…closer…and closer….then right in front of him…there it was….a hedgehog.
Johnny sighed a sigh of relief…for as we all know….hedgehogs are friendly….they may be a bit prickly, but they keep themselves to themselves and don’t bother anyone.
Johnny was a polite Jackdaw and had been taught to always be polite to strangers….well anyone really… so he said gingerly “Err…Hello…Mr Hedgehog.”
The hedgehog stopped and lifted his head “What are you doing down here my young friend…It’s dangerous around here late at night. Why aren’t you up in a tree with your friends?”
“I’ve broken my wing” said Johnny pointing to his injury “and I have to stay here, hidden, until it gets better”.
“Mmmm….why don’t you come and stay with me. I live not far from here and it’s much drier and safer than this damp and prickly bush” said the hedgehog.
Now Johnny knew you shouldn’t go anywhere with strangers but he was tired, cold and scared and after all….he was a hedgehog.
“Well…I suppose it’s got to be better than here” said Johnny looking around him “Ok…lead the way.”
Off they went through a hole in the hedge with Mr Hedgehog leading the way and Johnny trying to keep up. Mr Hedgehog only had short legs but he could walk really fast.
It wasn’t long before they reached Mr Hedgehogs home. It was a hole at the base of a tree….a very big and old tree.
Mr Hedgehog went in first, followed by Johnny.
“Wow” said Johnny “This is lovely”….it was only small but it was dry and warm and best of all…it felt safe.
“You can stay here until your wing heals young Jackdaw…you’ll be safe here”.
“Thank you Mr Hedgehog” said a very appreciative Johnny.
“Come on then…bed time, you sleep over there in the corner and I’ll sleep over here. It’s nearly light and I need my sleep, I’ve been up all night…good night young Jackdaw.”
“Goodnight Mr Hedgehog”
So they both settled down to sleep and Johnny felt content and safe…he hadn’t felt like this for a long time.
Johnny stayed with Mr Hedgehog just long enough for his wing to heal and although it wasn’t very long it must still have been a few weeks….he missed his friends and family and couldn’t wait to see them again.
One fine morning the sun was just starting to rise and Mr Hedgehog was returning home after a night of foraging for juicy earthworms, big slimy slugs and crunchy snails. Johnny flapped his wings.
“My wing is better now Mr Hedgehog and I think it’s time for me to try and find my family.”
“I’ve been thinking you looked much better” Said Mr Hedgehog nodding his head “If you think you’re ready young Jackdaw, I’ll take you back to where I found you.”
“Thank you, thank you…I’m ready.” said Johnny excitedly. “Right …let’s go then” exclaimed Mr Hedgehog, “no time like the present.” and off they both set…under hedges, through brambles, past nettles, over streams…it all looked very different in the daylight.
Under one last big hedge and there in front of them was the shed…the one that Johnny had hidden behind for so long.
“Before you go young Jackdaw” said Mr Hedgehog looking Johnny straight in the eye, “my name is Harry…Harry the hedgehog…I just wanted you to know”.
“Mine’s Johnny….Johnny the Jackdaw” he said with a big beaming smile on his beak “it’s been a pleasure…thank you Harry….have a safe journey home.”
Harry turned around and trundled off as hedgehogs do with his nose close to the ground and twitching, always looking for a big juicy earthworm.
Johnny looked around him…he was back where he had started all those weeks ago….trying to fight off those horrible crows and hiding here…behind the shed.
He hopped slowly to the front of the shed and then into the middle of the grass…he looked up and all around…nothing….then he remembered…his wing had healed…he was better…he could fly.
He jumped into the air, flapped his wings….he was flying…up…up…up….into the air….he circled around and then slowly descended into the oak tree he had fallen from all those weeks ago.
It was all very quiet but he could just make out the shape of his friends the Jackdaws asleep in the tree (don’t forget…it was still early with the sun low in the sky)….then he saw Jack, his friend…then his mum…and dad….he couldn’t contain himself any longer ….he cried at the top of his voice “Jack, mum, dad….It’s me…I’m ok” flapping his wings so hard all the leaves nearly blew off the tree.
They all woke with a start, mumbling and chattering with wings flapping ….they were so pleased to see him…
“I’ve been so worried” said his mum with tears in her eyes “when we couldn’t find you all those weeks ago we thought you had been caught by a fox...or a cat…we thought you were gone.”
“No….Harry…Harry the hedgehog…he saved me” said Johnny holding out his wings to give his mum a hug “he let me stay with him until my wing healed….oh, it’s so good to be back.”
“It’s good to have you back son” said his dad patting him on the shoulder and trying not to cry “maybe we can get back to normal now.”
The next morning it was like Johnny had never been away, the young Jackdaws were playing noisily high in the oak tree but you can be sure there was one young Jackdaw that had learned his lesson and was doing his best not to put a foot wrong...Anyway playing high in a tree, making a noise is what young Jackdaws do.
So, if you’re out playing and you see some Jackdaws being noisy in a tree, look closely…it could be Johnny and his friends.
The End
