![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Once upon a time...
There was a bird who had a magic egg. The other birds told her that if she kept it safe and took care of it, something wonderful could hatch from it. So she sat on it all the time. She did her best to be careful, but as time passed the egg got so hot it would burn her feet and belly. Still she clung to it.
Her skin blistered and turned black and her feathers shriveled, but still she cradled it as gently as she could. There were a few times she wanted to throw it against a rock or out of the nest and just be rid of it for good. But she remembered what she had been told and she tried to tell herself that the magic inside couldn't help but be hot and that all would be wonderful when it hatched.
Months passed and the firey hot egg turned cold, so cold that her scarred feet ached from holding it. She was worried now and held it close to her body to keep it warm, but the egg was so cold that it sucked the warmth from her skin and she could do nothing but shiver as she clutched the cruel thing.
Finally, finally!, months later still, the shell began to crack. The bird watched with wide eyes and hope in her heart. It would all be worth it now, she thought. Now there would be something special, a reward for her devotion. But the shell crumbled into nothing. The egg had been hollow all along. The wonderful thing had been born somewhere else, to belong to someone else.
And that's the way it is.
There was a bird who had a magic egg. The other birds told her that if she kept it safe and took care of it, something wonderful could hatch from it. So she sat on it all the time. She did her best to be careful, but as time passed the egg got so hot it would burn her feet and belly. Still she clung to it.
Her skin blistered and turned black and her feathers shriveled, but still she cradled it as gently as she could. There were a few times she wanted to throw it against a rock or out of the nest and just be rid of it for good. But she remembered what she had been told and she tried to tell herself that the magic inside couldn't help but be hot and that all would be wonderful when it hatched.
Months passed and the firey hot egg turned cold, so cold that her scarred feet ached from holding it. She was worried now and held it close to her body to keep it warm, but the egg was so cold that it sucked the warmth from her skin and she could do nothing but shiver as she clutched the cruel thing.
Finally, finally!, months later still, the shell began to crack. The bird watched with wide eyes and hope in her heart. It would all be worth it now, she thought. Now there would be something special, a reward for her devotion. But the shell crumbled into nothing. The egg had been hollow all along. The wonderful thing had been born somewhere else, to belong to someone else.
And that's the way it is.
