In the middle of a big, bright world, there grew a wonderful tree. This special tree was named the “Tree of Life”. Its branches reached up to the sun, and they were filled with all kinds of fruit.

On a branch lived a little blue bird named Pip. Pip loved to eat the fruit from the tree. All day long he would hop and peck, tasting every fruit he could find.

First, Pip ate a sweet red fruit. “Yummy!” he chirped. “This is the best! I feel so happy!” He flapped his little wings and did a happy dance on the branch.

Next, Pip tried a sour green fruit. “Oh, yucky!” he peeped. His beak puckered up, and he felt very, very sad. A little tear rolled down his fluffy cheek.

As Pip sniffled, he looked up, up, up to the very top of the tree. There sat another bird. He was big and golden and very quiet. His name was Sky.

Sky wasn’t eating any fruit. He wasn’t happy or sad. He just looked peaceful. Pip looked at his sour fruit, and then back up at quiet Sky. He wanted to feel peaceful, too.

So, Pip tried to be like Sky. He stopped thinking about the fruit. He fluffed his feathers, closed his eyes, and sat very, very still on his branch.

It felt nice to be so quiet. A little wiggle of peace started in his toes and went all the way to his beak. “I will fly up to Sky,” he decided.

Up, up, up Pip flew, past the green fruits and the red fruits, all the way to the top branch. He landed softly right next to big, golden Sky.

Sitting next to Sky, Pip didn’t feel happy or sad anymore. He just felt big and quiet and peaceful, just like Sky. It felt like they were two feathers on the very same bird.

* © Developed with the assistance of Gemini.ai by Linda Jayne and Henrik Frederiksen [Founder ElephantTribe.org]