Amaru was one day sitting quietly in the shade watching a queer, brown bird that he liked to call the Flitty Bird. This bird did not fly, but preferred instead to flit along the ground in small, wing-borne leaps.
Its nest was just visible beneath a large bush, and just then Amaru saw a small, brown hand hover over the nest and place a foreign egg in with the Flitty Bird’s eggs.
Amaru shook his head, annoyed at the mischief; but, not wanting to frighten the mother bird, he left the egg there.
Several weeks went by, the eggs hatched, and the intruder was fed and nurtured along with the other fledglings. Soon it was obvious to Amaru (who was observing this drama with interest) that the foreigner was a member of the bright, high-flying species of bird that was so prevalent in the village.
In time the fledgling became more mature, and finally one day he was a full-grown bird. Amaru expected to see him fly away and join his own kind, but instead, this False Flitty Bird just kept hopping around on the ground under the bushes!
Amaru said to himself, “Well, he only needs to be shown who he really is, and then he will fly away with the others!” So Amaru gathered up this silly bird, who was easy to catch since he didn’t know he could fly, and carried him into the nearest courtyard, the trees of which were alive with the False Flitty Bird’s own kind. Amaru set him down and moved away out of sight to watch what would happen.
And nothing at all happened! False Flitty immediately scuttled under the nearest bush, and soon rejoined his family. Amaru shrugged and said, “Oh well, it is none of my affair!”
But the next day Amaru returned, because he had come up with some ideas. He again caught False Flitty, and took him to a large puddle, so that he could see his reflection. But the little bird squirmed to get away, straining his neck this way and that, and looking everywhere except into the pool! Amaru let him hop away.
The day after that, Amaru again caught him (he was by now becoming quite tame), carried him up into a tree (which cost Amaru several bruises from slipping on the thick branches) and set him on a high limb. Amaru was certain this would help False Flitty to remember his wings. But the silly bird just sat there and shivered, and set up such a cacophony of pitiful screams that Amaru carried him down again.
Amaru made himself some wings out of old newspapers and attempted to show False Flitty how to fly. This only succeeded in frightening away all of the birds in the neighbourhood, as well as all of the dogs and even some of the children and their mothers.
Amaru brought the little bird into his house, set him up on a table, and scattered some grains and fruits on the floor. False Flitty nearly starved to death, with his little head hanging over the edge of the table, gazing at the food so far below. Amaru, full of contrition and a sense of frustration, nursed him back to health and returned him to his bush.
Then one day a beautiful female of False Flitty’s true breed was singing high in a tree in Amaru’s courtyard. He went and got False Flitty, placed him in the centre of the yard, and sat back expectantly. Sure enough, False Flitty cocked his head and listened. Then he started, hesitantly, to sing the same song and to make little tentative leaps in the air.
The female stopped for a moment, then started again, this time from a slightly lower branch. False Flitty kept singing and fluttering about. Finally, the female got tired of all this and flew away.
Amaru sighed. He returned the beautiful red-and-white bird to its small brown family. From time to time Amaru would see False Flitty under the bushes, and he seemed to be perfectly happy.
Or perhaps, not knowing any better, he just thought he was.
