AN ENCHANTED RAVEN

                                                                                                           Eva Demoore

    It was raining all day. So Rob sat near the window. He didn’t know what to do.  So he looked round the room.  But he saw only his usual things. There were two chairs, two armchairs, a bed, his table, a wardrobe, a mirror and shelves with his favorite books. The backpack was under his bed. And his fluffy funny dog was sitting near him.

   

  Suddenly Rob had an idea. He wanted to play hide and seek. He knew that his dog liked to play hide and seek too. So he began to count. The dog ran to the kitchen to hide. It was her favorite place. Rob knew that he could find his pet under the old armchair. He went to the kitchen. But this time he couldn’t find the dog under the armchair. Rob looked round the kitchen. But he didn’t see the dog. Rob looked behind the sofa and under the table. Then he opened the fridge. But there was no dog there either.

    

 Rob sat down on the chair and began to think. He couldn’t understand where his dog could be. Suddenly he saw a very strange thing. A wet bird flew up to the kitchen window and leaned against the glass.

      Rob wanted to watch the bird. But suddenly huge dark clouds covered the sky and he saw a lightening  which seemed so enormous and scary that the boy felt kind of fear.

     For the first time in his life he thought that nature could be  absolutely mad.  Rob approached the window and opened it.  The bird flew inside the kitchen.

     It was a raven.

     Rob forgot about the game. He looked at the raven with interest. He was surprised where it flew from.

     It was very strange to see a raven in the city. Rob was astonished but he had no time to think it over. He knew that he had to help the bird. So he went to the bathroom and took a towel.

    
  Then he ran back to the kitchen and tried to dry the raven.

     It wasn’t easy. The bird flew to the fridge. The fridge was very big and Rob put a chair to it. But when he was on the chair the raven suddenly flew to the sofa. Then he flew to the cupboard.

     Rob pulled a chair to the cupboard. But the raven flew again. This time he sat down on the floor.

    Rob thought a little more about how to catch the bird. But then he thought that it was silly of him to try to dry the wild bird. He felt that the raven didn’t like it.

     So Rob took the towel back to where it was before. Then Rob found some crumbs. He put them on the plate. The crumbs were from the cake. Rob thought the raven would peck them all. But the bird didn’t touch any.

  
   The boy was impressed. He thought that all birds and animals liked cakes. Even his dog ate it with pleasure.  Here he thought about his pet again, but only for a moment. He didn’t  want to go to the other rooms.

     He didn’t want to leave his mysterious guest alone. So Rob  stayed in the kitchen. He thought that he could treat the raven with something different. So he took brown bread and put some shortcuts to the plate. But the raven ignored the plate completely.

   “Thank you, Rob! You are a good boy!” the raven said suddenly n a man’s voice.

   At first Rob couldn’t speak. The boy was shocked. He felt terrible. How did the raven know his name. The boy had other questions too. But the only thing he was able to utter was “Why didn’t you eat the cake?”

   The raven was in no hurry to answer. It bent its head and stared at the boy amazingly. “Birds eat only simple food.”

    Rob looked at the raven with surprise.  “But I saw many times how birds ate different sweet things: cookies, biscuits and cakes.”

    “Only city birds eat all food which people eat. But we, free forest and field birds, eat only food of nature.”

     “You should use only healthy food,” remembered Rob his mum’s words. Then he said to himself ”I thought cakes are healthy food.”

     The raven looked at the boy attentively and said “Cakes are for pleasure.  So we never eat them. Only stupid creatures eat food for pleasure.”

      

     Rob thought it all over and said “I agree with you.” And then he said to himself indignantly ”I am talking to a bird! Am I getting mad?”

“No you are not,” answered his inner question the raven.

“How do you know what am I thinking about?“ demanded Rob.

   The raven said nothing.

  ”You can read people’s minds,” guessed the boy.

“That too,” admitted the raven. “But I am not here to talk about trifles like food or my skills,” declared the raven. “I was sent to you to discuss more important matters.”

“Could you please clarify that?” asked Rob politely.”It sounds like you have some important message for me.”

“I do, I do,” simply said the raven.

“It’s kind of strange to hear you talking in a man’s voice,” confessed Rob.

    “Not a big deal… You do talk with your dog every day.”

     “That’s different,” said Rob. “Everyone talks with dogs. They are smart.”

  

     “Nobody would believe me, if I said I communicated with a raven,” he went on in a minute.

     “I can understand it,” sighed the raven.”People consider birds stupid.”

“Some of us do,” agreed Rob. He felt uncomfortable at the mentioning of this fact. But to Rob’s relief the raven changed the theme and began to talk about wild life.

     “Please do me a favour,” asked Rob when the raven had told at least a hundred of unbelievable stories about life in wild nature. “Describe in particulars those mysterious cases which you have just mentioned and I’ll write down the details.”

     “No way,” said the raven. “You are not supposed to know the secrets of how to turn into somebody else.”It looked Rob over and continued categorically. “I shouldn’t even have mentioned that to you.”

     “I am here only to give you a message,” he said in a little while in a more friendly tone.”You got it and I should fly back. Now you know that the future depends only on you and your appropriate interaction with us – wild life.”

     “I promise I’ll treat you all with respect,” said Rob ardently. “Can you stay a little bit longer?” he asked with hope removing the plate with crumbs from the sight.  “I have so many questions to ask.”

   “We have discussed the major matter,” softly reminded the raven. “What else do you want to know?”

   “I can’t believe you are a regular bird,” the boy confessed.

   “I am not,” admitted the raven. “The majority of ravens are ancient spirits who decided to stay on the Earth forever. For so we love our planet that we desire to serve it faithfully and preserve its wild nature in harmony.”

     “You sound like a great spirit,” said Rob. “I mean one of the greatest spirits.”

     “I wish you could hear them!” said the raven. “I mean the ones who got transformed,” he added.  “Hope one day you will understand all birds when you hear their talk.”

     “You may be sure I’ll listen to ravens and other birds from now on,” said Rob with determination.

    “Next time I see a raven, I’ll remember you and your words,” he smiled. “But do tell me how it happened that you started talking like a man.”

     “I was a man,” suddenly declared the raven. “A shaman from a faraway island.”

   “A shaman who is under a spell,” guessed the boy. The raven didn’t  hurry to reveal the whole story.

   ”You were turned into a raven by an evil wizard who wanted your power?” continued his contemplations Rob.

    “No,” was the answer. “I am just an enchanted raven.”

    “An enchanted raven?” inquired the boy.”That’s sounds amazing.”

   The raven listened to the boy patiently. “So you deny that you were turned into a bird?” asked Rob with curiosity.

    The raven burst out laughing. “Nobody can transform a real shaman without his own will. And it was my personal choice to become a raven.”

    “Your sacrifice you mean?” asked Rob cautiously.

   “Not a sacrifice but a decision,” corrected the raven.”A promise to the wild nature to stay in that shape until the day of great changes.”

     “But why? Why did you take that decision?” the boy repeated several times. “What made you transform into a bird?” he insisted. “It’s so nice to be a person.”

     The raven flew to the window-sill and looked at the drops of rain on the glass.

Then he turned his head and stared at Rob. The boy was looking at the bird with attention and great respect.

    “For centuries we lived happily on our faraway island until one day white men sailed there,” started the raven after he had descended to the armchair opposite the boy.

   “You mean Europeans?’ asked Rob. But the raven didn’t answer his question. “What did they do?” he posed another one.

  “Started building a town,” Rob heard in a while.

   “It isn’t appropriate to do it without the permission of wild life,” said the raven indignantly.

    Rob thought it all over and said “I agree with you, great shaman.”

    “I don’t have a right to be called great shaman.  I guess I was an ordinary one. May be, even a primitive one. Real but not shrewd enough, for I let them built the town. I didn’t save the wild life on the island,” said the raven with a sigh. “So call me just an enchanted raven,” he asked.

   “What happened to your people?” asked Rob with interest.

   “I transformed everybody into birds,” informed the shaman.

   “They couldn’t stay on the island otherwise,” he explained.  

“The white men captured our lands completely.”

   “They destroyed your civilization?” inquired Rob.

   “It was just a settlement,” whispered the raven. “A peaceful settlement surrounded by wild life.”

   “But why do you call yourself enchanted?” demanded Rob.

   “Because I am enchanted,” answered the raven. “Enchanted by life itself. Enchanted by nature,” declared the raven. “I admire this world with its sunrises and dawns, its forests and mountains, various creatures inhabiting it, the stars in the sky and magnificent oceans, colourful leaves and purity of numerous springs.”

   “Me, too!” informed Rob.

    “So protect it!” reminded the raven one more time.”Keep in mind the future of the planet depends on you.”

   “I’ll do my best,” promised the boy.

   “We, too. We do our best,” informed the raven. “Now that we are birds.”

   “Will you stay birds forever?” asked Rob with regret.

    “When everyone lives in the harmony with the nature some of us may turn into people again,” said the raven.

   “How about you personally?” demanded the boy.

   “It’s not so significant if I become the shaman again or stay forever a raven. What matters is EVERYONE SHOULD LIVE IN HARMONY WITH THE NATURE, RESPECTING WILD LIFE AND LOVING OUR GREAT MOTHER – THE EARTH,” he emphasized.

    Rob wanted to ask about the place where the raven lived. But the raven flew up to the window-sill again, this time with a resolution to leave the kitchen.

   “Please, tell this message to everybody,” he asked looking straight into Rob’s eyes and added in a while, “And open the window. It’s time to fly away.”

   Rob looked out of the window. “It is still raining,” he began doubtfully.

   “I can manage it,” assured him the raven.”Thanks for listening.” He waved his wings and flew out of the room.

   
    Rob leaned against the glass.

   And at once he heard a familiar barking. “Where have you been all this time?” Rob addressed his pet. The dog only waved her tail happily.

   “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” rebuked her Rob. You missed the whole story.”

   “Did I really?” yarned the pet. 

   “You did,” said Rob. And then he told his pet about the raven.

   “You could have invited me,” rebuked him the dog.

   “I couldn’t find you.”

    The dog expressed her doubt.

   “I really looked through all the rooms,” assured her Rob.

   “But for the hall,” the dog sounded hurt.

   “You don’t like the hall. You had never stayed there or hid there when we had played before.” explained Rob. “I know it very well. So there was no reason to go there.”

  “There was one,” interrupted him the dog. “The hall smelt of a neighbour’s  cat today. I wanted to teach her good manners.”

     “Did you manage it?” asked Rob with curiosity. He knew very well about the unfriendly relationship of his pet with the neighbour’s cat who always tried to peep into the hall. Sometimes she even managed to penetrate the hall. And from time to time even to greet Rob’s family inside their own flat, which was very insulting for the dog.

   “I intended to scratch a little that inquisitive nose,” confessed the dog. “But I fell asleep and missed the chance… I guess my presence affected her curiosity a bit. Her visit was prevented. That purring creature should know her cat’s place.”

  
  “A bit of scratching is always useful when we deal with cats,” the dog explained with enthusiasm. “I expect you can see it one day,” the dog continued in a minute terribly proud of her plan.

   “And I expect you to treat her friendly,” said Rob with determination. “The dog stared at the master in surprise. “You want me to let that neighbour cat to penetrate our apartment…”she uttered in disbelief.

   “You have spent days trying to give a bit of scratching to that little  neighbour animal.”

   The dog slightly growled at the mentioning of her enemy. “But let’s be honest,” Rob continued. “It’s you who gets a bit of scratching mostly,” he reminded.  

   “Not a big deal,” interrupted him the pet. “You can’t guess how good I am at scratching now…Much better than her,” estimated the dog her own achievements. “So one day she even won’t dare to think about her evil plans concerning our apartment.” Rob listened attentively.

   “She used to come to us without invitation,” the dog proceeded.

   “Not a big deal,” said Rob. “All neighbours visit each other sometimes.”

   “Not that often,” said the dog and looked at Rob suspiciously.         “It isn’t the reason for treating each other badly,” the boy said patiently.

“You try to reconcile us?” the dog asked indignantly in a moment.

   “Kind of,” confessed the boy.

   The dog contemplated the matter a minute and figured out that the master was concerned about her own safety. She couldn’t imagine any other reasons for the sudden loyalty of the master to that terrible little monster who regularly risked to purr in somebody else’s apartment or flat as Rob said.

   “In most cases it was me who got a bit of scratching,” admitted the dog. “But I promise I’ll teach her a lesson. I can manage it now.”

   “How about leaving her alone?” asked the boy.

   “That is let her wave her ugly tail in front of all of us in the middle of our own living room?” inquired the dog.

   “Why not?” said Rob. “After all her tail is not so ugly as you describe it. Fluffy and…” Rob wanted to say “nice enough”. But he didn’t want to hurt his pet so he said instead ”ordinary.”  

   “That is exactly what it is for everybody,“ agreed the dog. “Ordinary. Very ordinary. Extremely ordinary,” she repeated with enthusiasm. “But she is so terribly proud of it,” the dog growled with indignation.

   “Cats are terribly proud of themselves in general,” Rob confirmed.

   “We don’t talk about in general,” his pet corrected him. “And talking in particular I briefly described my intentions mentioning her ugly tail. That’s my plan for the nearest future.” She barked with relief.

   “Remember about your last week’s experience,” gently reminded Rob.

   “I do, I do,” nodded the dog. But she felt by the boy’s voice that he didn’t approve her idea about the ugly tail. At least she didn’t notice his smile.  

   “Currently the situation has changed,” the dog went on n a feeble attempt to persuade her master to support her regular activity against the inquisitively curious neighbour’s  pet.

   “The situation has changed indeed,” admitted Rob. “I guess great changes are ahead all of us!” he declared.

   The dog got a little scared “What do you mean?”

   “Don’t worry!” calmed her the boy. “These are positive joyful happy changes.” And then he explained to his dog the necessity of agreeable neighbourhood and the whole message of the enchanted raven.