The Flight of the Golden Bird Read Online Free PDF

on my trip, I pay them money and they buy food for their children. So that’s why I must go.”
    “But, Master, you have never taken me with you on any of your trips!”
    “Oh, my little friend, I could never take you with me on any of my trips.”
    “Why not, Master? Why can’t you take me?”
    “Well, you see, I might be waylaid by robbers or bandits. And then they would steal you from me. I’d never see you again. And you’re the only golden bird in this world.”
    “No, Master, that is not true. You see, there is another like me.”
    “Another like you?” said the merchant. “No, my friend, there is no one like you. You are the only golden bird in this world. And I love you more than all my wealth; I will never, never set you free.”
    “Then, Master, if you won’t take me with you and you won’t set me free, will you take a little message for me?”
    “A message?” said the merchant. “What kind of a message?”
    “Just a little message to another friend of mine far from here.”
    “Another friend of yours?” said the merchant. “But there’s no one like you – you are the only one in this world.”
    “No, Master, there is another like me. And if you can’t take me with you, then you must take a message from me!”
    “But where shall I find this friend of yours?”
    “Master, after you’ve travelled into the East and sold all your wares and sent all your bearers home to the village, then you must continue to the end of the land… where there’s no more land, only the raging sea before you. And there you will find a small forest. You must seek the highest tree you can find. And there on the lowest branch, Master, sits another like me – a dear friend of mine. And you must tell her that I’m locked in a golden cage. And I can never be freed. Will you do that for me, Master?”
    “I promise you, my little friend, should I never return, I will deliver your message!”
    So the next morning the merchant was gone into the East very early with all his camels and donkeys laden with all the wares he was going to sell. Taking all the men from the village he travelled on his journey. And the merchant was very lucky, for soon he had sold all his wares and paid off his bearers one by one, and sent them home with their stock to the village once again. He was left with one single donkey. And he thought to himself, “I cannot go home. I cannot return and face my little golden friend without delivering his message. So I must continue as my little friend told me.”
    So he travelled on. And as you know, if you travel any part in the world long enough soon you will come to the end of the land. So the merchant travelled on for many days, for many weeks. And sure as the little bird had said there was no more land; only the raging sea lay before him. And there was a small forest.
    The merchant tied up his donkey and he walked through the forest seeking the highest and thickest tree he could find. Soonhe found it. And there sitting on the lowest branch was another golden bird identical to the one he owned! The merchant stared in amazement. The little bird had told the truth – there was another golden bird. And as he stood under the branch looking at the golden bird, the golden bird looked down with beady bright eyes but said nothing.
    And then the merchant said, “I have come a long way to be with you, my friend. You see, I have another like you locked up in a golden cage. And I have come to deliver a message for him, to tell you that he is locked in a golden cage. And I love him more than all my wealth and I will never set him free.”
    Just as the merchant uttered these words the little golden bird fell from the branch right at his feet. He picked it up. It was dead.
    “Why?” thought the merchant. “Why had you to die? Why was that message so important to you?” The merchant felt very sad.
    So, as there was no grass under the tree he dug a shallow little grave with his hands. And he buried the little