WIP

# The Sunbirds' Song

v 0.1

In the animal kingdom of Africa, there lived together many animals. Some of them were big, like the elephant, some of them were small, like the meerkat, some were fast, like the cheetah, and some were very, very slow, like the ever sniffing snake. The animals all lived together, and even though they sometimes fought, they could all have good fun most of the time. The small played with the big, the fast played with the slow, and they enjoyed their time under the Africa's hot sun.

There were also very cute animals like the sunbirds. What? Haven't you heard of the sunbirds?! They are tiny, tiny birds who flap their small wings really fast and drink nectar from flowers with their long beaks, just like you drink juice with a straw! They are just like hummingbirds, but hummingbirds don't live here in Africa, only sunbirds do.

Sunbirds aren't very strong, they are very small, so small that you might not even notice one if it flew right under your nose!

One day a Sunbird named Sam was playing with other animals, and he noticed he wasn't as fast as the cheetah who ran like the wind. He couldn't win against him in a race. And he also noticed he wasn't as strong as the elephant, who could break trees that stood in his way! And he noticed he couldn't hold his breath under the water as long as his friend hippo could. And so Sam became sad, and a little bit jealous.

Sam went back home and talked to the other sunbirds. He told them: "Sunbirds, my friends, we aren't as strong and fast as the other animals. Every time we play games, they win. Wouldn't it be fair if the other animals let us win sometimes?" And the other sunbirds immediately replied: "Yes! The other animals should let us win sometimes, it is only fair!" And they went to the cheetahs, and to the elephants, and to the hippos, and all the other animals, and told them that next time they would play games, they must let the sunbirds win at least once every day! And the animals, seeing the sunbirds were very tiny, weak and that they had big cute eyes and squeaky voices, told them "well then, from now on we will let you win at least once every day." And so they did.

Some time passed in the animal kingdom and then, one day, Sam the sunbird noticed again that the other animals had a lot of good food to eat -- more than he had. The lions have hunted all day and had a fridge full of meat for their families. The giraffe could reach high up to the top of the tallest trees and could eat all the delicious leaves all day. And the baboons, after working all day, have collected a lot of fruit up in their homes in the trees. And Sam again became a little bit jealous, he couldn't hunt and eat meat, he couldn't eat leaves and he couldn't even lift any fruit, let alone collect them!

And so he went back to his fellow sunbirds again and told them: "Sunbirds, my friends, we are very small and weak and we cannot collect as much delicious food as the other animals. The other animals should give us a little bit of their food." And the sunbirds immediately replied: "Yes, they should give us a little bit of their food, that's only fair!". And so they went to the lions, and to the giraffes and to the baboons and other animals, and asked if they could take a little bit of their delicious meat, leaves and fruit every single day. And the animals, seeing the poor tiny sunbirds with their big eyes and cute straw-like beaks told them: "Alright, sunbirds, you are our friends and so we will give you some of our food every day!" And so they did.

Some time passed again and one sunny day Sam noticed again something that he thought wasn't fair. The other animals had better homes. The lions had a big cave that was very cool and pretty comfortable when it was very hot, and the meerkats had dug long tunnels under the ground, in which they lived, and in these tunnels there was nice cool shade and safety. And a lot of room for playing hide and seek too! Sunbirds cannot dig under the ground, nor build big houses, they can only ever create very small nests that aren't spacey at all and aren't very safe.

And with this Sam went back to his fellow sunbirds and told them: "Sunbirds, my friends, we are very weak and small and we can't build big houses. Our small nests are uncomfortable while other animals live in luxury. They let us live like this, wouldn't it be fair if we exchanged our houses with them for a while?" And the sunbirds immediately replied: "Yes, that would only be fair!" And they went and started to sing a song:

"Sunbirds are small, hear our words, everyone has to be nice to sunbirds!"

And they went to the lions and told them: "Lions, you let us live in tiny homes while you were enjoying your nice big cave, let us live here for now." And as the sunbirds' song echoed through the jungle, the lions became scared, they didn't want to be bad to sunbirds, all the animals were now singing "everyone has to be nice to sunbirds!" And so the lions left their cave and let the sunbirds live in it. And then the sunbirds went to the meerkats and told them "Meerkats, you have lived in your fine underground tunnels and let us, sunbirds, live in poor tiny homes, let us live in your tunnels for now." And as all the animals in the jungle were singing the song "everyone has to be nice to sunbirds!", the meerkats couldn't but leave their home and let the sunbirds live there.

And the time passed and every new week the sunbirds noticed something else that wasn't fair. The elephants had their long handy trunks and the sunbirds didn't, so the elephants had to tie their trunks like a tie and not use them for anything! That would make the sunbirds sad. The zebras had very nice looking stripes and the sunbirds didn't, so the zebras had to paint their stripes over so that they looked like horses! And the lions had to trim their manes because sunbirds didn't have ones.

In the African kingdom, all animals were now sad -- all except the sunbirds who lived in their big lion cave, who had to win all the games with other animals and who were now telling other animals what they could and couldn't do and even what they could and couldn't say! Sunbirds told other animals that no one would be allowed to sing any other song than the sunbird song: "everyone has to be nice to sunbirds!" And everyone was afraid to not obey the sunbirds now, and so everyone kept singing the sunbirds' song.

Well, that is except for one small impala named Isabel. Isabel was very smart and saw that the sunbirds evil rule was only possible if all animals were afraid of the sunbirds, and so she went and told this to the elephants, the cheetahs, the snakes, the giraffes and the hippos and all the other animals. And together they went to the sunbirds' cave and told them: "Sunbirds, we will no longer be singing your song. It is now only hurting everyone, everyone has to serve only you. It is true that you, sunbirds, are smaller and weaker than most of us other animals and that we should take care of you, but it has gotten too far, everyone is now unhappy. You have become only focused on yourself, the sunbirds, and you have forgotten that other animals can feel bad too. And so we will no longer be afraid of you, we will allow elephants to use their trunks again and we will all be signing songs that we like, not just your one song."

And out of the cave came Sam the sunbird. He saw that what Isabel was saying was true, he suddenly felt ashamed and told her "Oh Isabel, it is true, now I can see all of you here and I see you are sad because of us, sunbirds. At first we only wanted to be as good as you stronger animals, but then we couldn't stop wanting more. Now I see everyone is good at something and that it's bad to be only focused on ourselves and not others. I am sorry, Isabel. We will go back to our nests and if you animals forgive us, we can play just like before."

And with this, Isabel and Sam hugged. All other sunbirds came out of the cave and the meerkat underground tunnels and they all together started to sign a new song, a song that every animal liked:

"Big or small we're all the same, let's always play a friendly game."

And they all went and played together just like before. And from that time on the stronger animals shared the food with the sunbirds and other small animals too. They invited them to their houses regularly, and sometimes even let them win in games. Not because they had to or because they were afraid of them, but simply because they were all good friends.
