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Cardinal's Red Feathers

My mother’s favorite bird is the cardinal. While driving the car or sitting at the window, Mom was sure to point out any cardinal she saw. I find myself noticing them, too, even pointing them out to my dogs, as if they care!

 
Unable to sleep one night, I pulled a book off the shelf, Eleven Nature Tales by Pleasant DeSpain, one of my favorite storytellers. A Cherokee tale explains how cardinal became a bird with bright red feathers.
 
Cardinal’s Red Feathers    (a Cherokee Tale)
All of the birds were happy when the world was young--all of the birds but a little brown bird. The other birds tried to cheer the sad bird, but the brown bird kept to herself embarrassed of her ugly color and poor singing voice.
 
One day Coyote and Raccoon were playing tricks on one another. Raccoon put mud on Coyote’s eyes while he was sleeping. When Coyote awoke, he thought he was blind stumbling about complaining as he bumped into trees. The little brown bird laughed at his silliness and offered to remove the mud. When Coyote could see again, he granted the brown bird a wish.
 
“A wish?” exclaimed the brown bird. “I would like to have a brilliant color and a beautiful voice.” Coyote led the brown bird to the sacred rock having her peck from it the bright red clay. Coyote made paint with his tongue making her a glorious red color. “Cardinal is your new name,” declared Coyote. Cardinal was so happy she sang a wonderful song that she still sings today.
 
Beyond the obvious story of how cardinal became red, this story also tells us to be happy, sing our song, give back to the world, and laugh often at the silliness around us.
 
DeSpain, Pleasant. 11 Nature Tales.