Finding Courage

In a hole of a big tree, the mother of the mandarin duck was trying to hatch 7 eggs. She guarded the babies cautiously, sometimes she even forgot to eat. One day, seven babies broke out of their shells one after another, the mother was very happy. She named them the letter A,B,C,D,E,F and G in sequence.

 

Early in the next morning, mother called anxiously: "Sweet hearts, get up quickly, we are going to learn some skills."

 

"A and B, help your brothers and sisters to get in line."

 

"D, don't pull your sister's clothes."

 

"G, wake up!"

 

The mother spent a lot of time before the babies finally lined up. Although the babies are a bit noisy, the mother was very satisfied with their behaviour: "My babies are all very strong!"

 

The mother stood in front of the door and shouted loudly to the babies: "Everyone, attention please!" As soon as she said the words, she flew and landed on the  ground.

 

She shouted under the tree: "Everyone coming down, we are going to the river to learn how to swim."

 

A stood at the door and looked at his mother. Without thinking, he jumped down and fell on the soft leaves. He stood up immediately and shouted excitedly: "Cool, it's fun!"

 

B and C jumped when they heard A’s words.

 

Now it was D’s turn. He was standing at the door and hesitated. The anxious E rushed from behind and pushed D to fall. "Shoo, shoo" , two more babies landed safely.

 

F climbed up to the hole and looked around for a while: "Mom, I'm afraid of high ..."

 

Mother comforted softly: "Don't be afraid, my sweet heart. Just jump, it will be fine."

 

F found some courage to move two steps forward. The wind blew his feathers, and he was scared again and took two steps backward.

Mother was anxious: "Sweet heart, don't be afraid! Look, there is grass below the leaves." And then she stepped on the fallen leaves, the leaves made a rustling sound.

 

At this time, G lost the patience to wait. She stepped in front of F, and quickly jumped off while yelling "Yoo ...

 

A shouted at the F: "F, jump, look at us ,we are all fine!"

 

"Yeah yeah ..." Everyone nodded.

 

F moved two steps forward, but when he looked down, he stepped back immediately. The clock was still ticking, and the sky was getting brighter. The mother shouted: "Sweet heart, you must find your courage, you have to do this alone. We can not wait for you such a long time."

 

Seeing F was still unmoved, the mother decided to take the other babies first.

 

F wanted to catch them up, but he was too afraid to jump. Instead, he watched them gradually disappear into the grass.

 

It was quiet, F was lonely and scared. He cried, and the cry awakened the sleeping tree elf.

 

F told the tree elf about the story, and asked, "Doesn’t my mother want me anymore? I'm so scared."

 

The tree elf smiled and said to F: "I think, your mother love you, she hopes you can find your courage."

 

F stopped crying and asked, "What is courage? Why do everyone have it, but I don't?"

 

The tree elf answered, "Courage is hidden in the grass beneath the leaves. How about looking for it?"

 

F missed his mother too much. He stretched out his little feet to crawl a few steps forward.

 

The tree elf looked at F tenderly: "Are you ready? Close your eyes and wait for me to count to three, then you jump down. If you don't jump, the courage will run away."

 

"One, two, three!"

 

F jumped forward, and he heard the wind whispering in his ear, and felt that he made a few loops in the air.

 

“Pong, he landed heavily on the grass.

 

It wasn't until the tree elf said, "Okay, you caught the courage", F opened his eyes. He looked up and saw the tree elf smile.

 

He seemed to realize something, and waved his wings to say goodbye to the tree elf, and ran away to find his mother.

 

The mother in the river saw a small figure from the grass swiftly approaching her, she finally smiled.