Winchester VA |

Heaven and Earth

written by: collage playshop participant

Once upon a time there was a little rock who yearned to be a hummingbird so it could fly high up into the air to be with Father Sky. It did not like always resting on Mother Earth.

One day Little Rock saw a giant dung beetle walking by. When the beetle stopped to rest in the sun, Little Rock asked how it could become a hummingbird. In a deep low voice the beetle hissed, “Patience first. Then, Little Rock, you must find your way to the fast flowing river and rest quietly in the water.” The beetle got up and moved on.

Soon a thunderstorm blew in with torrential rains and gale force winds. Little Rock was washed away from its home and ended up in the rushing river. The water ran over Little Rock day after day, year after year. Eventually Little Rock became gravel, and then very fine sand.

Sun of Heaven shone on the river and soon it dried up, leaving the riverbed exposed to the weather. A great wind blew across the riverbed blowing what was left of Little Rock— fine dust— high up into the sky beyond the clouds.

Oh, how happy the rock specks of dust were to finally fly and be with Father Sky. But when the wind stopped, the dust drifted down into the clouds. It began to rain and the dust came back down to earth. The rain landed as droplets of water on the big red flowers of a trumpet vine where the water mixed with nectar from the flowers. A hummingbird landed on the vine and sipped up all the nectar.

Little Rock was ecstatic, and could now both fly as a hummingbird to visit Father Sky and land on the ground to be with Mother Earth.

The End.