One day, when the world was still very young, the God looked down and saw a magnificent bird. The bird was beautiful and had shimmering feathers. They were bright red and golden in colour and shone like the sun himself. The beautiful bird danced about and caught the attention of God. Allured by its beauty, the God exclaimed, “Glorious bird! You should reside with me in Heaven and be my messenger!”

“I am sincerely sorry my lord but I cannot go to heaven abandoning my owner, Suka, whom I love dearly. There is also no guarantee that you will not imprison me in a cage,” remarked the bird, glancing at her shimmering, golden feathers.

“Oh, dear one, I will provide you with great comfort and luxury. Please do come with me,” pleaded God.

When the bird continued to refuse, God got angry. He grabbed a cage, trapped her inside and abducted her. Tears trickled down her feathers like an open spout.

“You left me with no choice!” growled God.

They reached heaven and he stationed her cage in a corner. Then, he left to take a shower.

Once the bird was guaranteed that God was gone he chuckled to herself like a mad scientist and said, “Silly old man, thinks I don’t know how to pick a lock!”

She soared out of the cage and into the blissful blue sky. She eventually reached a forest, where she saw Suka. He was a tall, red-headed, handsome young boy. She was about to descend but she saw a massive, chubby bear silently approaching Suka from behind. She did her utmost to warn him by making a racket while maintaining a safe distance, nevertheless, he did not notice. She noticed the bear getting ready to pounce and her blood ran cold.

In the meantime, God had noted her absence and promptly grabbed his magic globe. He announced the bird’s name, consequently, the globe began beeping rapidly. God pressed the globe again.

Momentarily, he was standing next to Suka. He acknowledged what was happening and turned himself to face the bear.

“You want the boy? Then fight me first!” yelled God heroically.

Suka was completely blank, the bird flew down and settled herself on Suka’s shoulder. God had left his scepter in heaven so he had to fight the bear with Suka’s knife. Eventually, the bear ran away but God had a deep gash on his hand.

The bird was deeply touched by his kind gesture. She shedded a tear on his wound and the gash mended itself.

God gasped, “A phoenix!” 

The bird nodded kindly and then glanced at Suka nervously.

“Is something wrong?” questioned Suka.

She remained silent for a second and suddenly hugged Suka, “Oh Suka, I am so sorry! You have always been so kind to me, yet I was tempted to accept God’s offer to live in heaven with him! I was almost about to too, but I remembered my dream.”

She opened her mouth to continue when God began laughing considerably loud. Suka and the bird glanced at him and then at each other. God had explained that it was him, who gave the bird the dream, teaching her to serve Suka faithfully.

“You have passed the test! You believed in your dream and now it is your job to convey messages, happiness and sadness through dreams.” “Behold the messenger of dreams!” His voice echoed throughout the forest, loud enough for everyone to hear.

The End