One day deep in the woods, there was a Bird named Manny who was flying in a forest and happened to pass by the remains of a cottage that was rumored to curse anyone who took anything from it; but the bird was not aware of this rumor due to the fact that he was a child who was in his nest most of the time and therefore was never exposed to the other animals of the forest who spread the rumor. Manny was a very curious bird. He started picking through the rubble and found a small box in the rubble which contained a golden locket with intricate designs on its outside and an inside that was still intact.
Very happy with what he had found, Manny took the locket and started to make his way home with it, when he started to feel dizzy and fell unconscious.
     When he woke up he found himself in a small cage of some sort that was made out what seemed like twigs and surrounded by grass. Manny tried to escape the cage only to fail time after time. Soon another bird just like him came into his view and seemed to be headed towards him. When the bird reached his cage, he introduced himself, “Hello, my name is Fatima. What is yours?” Manny told Fatima his name. “I’m assuming you took something from the cottage, right?” asked Fatima. “Yes. Why?” replied Manny. “Because whoever takes something from the cottage is cursed to never fly again. The only way I know of to undo the curse is to return what you took back to the cottage. It may not seem that difficult, but it is considering our age and how long it would take to get there.” Fatima then let Manny out of the cage. Fatima then explained the obstacles that are in their path to the cottage like a stream.
     Then they set off to go the cottage when they encountered a stream which was like a river to them. They thought long and hard about how to get across. Finally, Manny suggested trying to build a raft that could withstand the stream. After building the raft, they carefully placed it in the raging water. It stayed afloat for some time while they were preparing a rope out of the grass to prevent the raft from being swept away. When they got on the boat, the rope gave way and the raft went with the stream away from the cottage. Just before the cottage went out of sight, a twig caught the raft and they got off the raft. From there they had a lot of walking to do because of how far the raft had carried them. “I know! Why don’t we climb a tree and glide down from it to the cottage using a leaf?” exclaimed Manny. “Why not?” replied Fatima. From there on the two of them climbed a tree over the course of 2 days. Part of the way up the tree, they encountered a squirrel that introduced himself as the guardian of the tree and advised the birds against climbing the tree. In their hurry to remove the curse, they disregarded the warning that the squirrel had given them. The birds continued to climb the tree for what seemed like forever. Then Manny asked Fatima, “Is it just me, or is the tree getting taller.” “It is getting taller!” Fatima exclaimed. After another day of climbing the tree, Manny and Fatima finally decided that they were going to give up. Just when they were about to give up, the squirrel that claimed to be the guardian of the tree scurried up the tree in a matter of seconds and asked “Giving up already? That’s a shame, no one has ever made it up the tree yet.” Hearing this news of the fact that no one has ever made it to the top of the tree, Manny became even more discouraged while Fatima said, “Then let’s be the first ones to do it” Both Manny and Fatima continued climbing the tree. The squirrel said, “I will be waiting” and scurried up to the top of the tree in hopes that someone will finally not give up and make it to the top of the tree. On their sixth day of climbing the tree, they both reached the top of the tree. Ecstatic about their arrival at the top of the tree, the tow birds started celebrating. As the squirrel was about to say something, the two birds took some leaves and jumped off the tree and glided to the base of the cottage. Then both Manny and Fatima placed the items they took at the base of the cottage. Nothing happened. They tried to flap their wings and fly, but to no avail. Both of the birds were perplexed as to why they still couldn’t fly. From the base of the cottage, they saw the squirrel saying something that they couldn’t quite hear. They went back to the stump of the tree they had jumped off, to see if the squirrel knew why they still weren’t able to fly. The squirrel hurried down the tree to greet the birds another time. When they asked about the curse, the squirrel replied, “The curse you speak of is permanent, however,” “however? Manny asked. “However,” the squirrel went on, “if you had listened to me at the top of the tree, you would have been able to lift the curse. The squirrel went on and told the birds how there was a reward at the top of the tree that could grant any wish. Fatima asked why the squirrel hadn’t told them before they jumped off the tree. “I tried to, but you didn’t listen to me and just jumped off. In order for you to claim the reward, you must climb the tree again” replied the squirrel.
The birds reluctantly started to climb the tree again. After some time, the birds just continued to climb the tree without any thought of giving up like they nearly did on their first attempt. They climbed the tree quickly and steadily, because they knew they had done it once before, and could do it again. After another 5 days of climbing, they finally reached the top of the tree. At the top, the squirrel greeted them and gave them each a berry that if eaten, would grant the consumer one wish. Fatima ate the berry and wished to be able to fly again. To her surprise, she could fly again when she flapped her wings. She then thanked Manny for his help and flew away to go meet her family once again. When Manny ate the berry, he decided to wish for no other birds to be able to get cursed like him from the cottage. Manny used this as his wish. For the rest of his life, Manny stuck by the phrase “never give up” and lived his life successfully even without the ability to fly. Not only birds, but also other species of animals soon started to life by this phrase and life in that forest became very lively and enjoyable for everyone.