Once, long ago, there was a land in another world, far away, where only animals lived. The world was Imaginaria, and in The Land of the Whispering Wind, the animals were very happy. They never ate one another, and they were very friendly. They had rules to live by—good rules. They were happy because they knew they were good and kind to each other, and they would always be safe. They were also happy because each one knew how to sit very still and listen to the whispering wind. The whispering wind said beautiful things, and helped guide the animals every day. This wind was not a regular wind that you could feel in your fur or feathers, but a wind that you could feel inside.
The little singerwing named Tutui could hear the beautiful voice of the inside wind better than all the others. Animals came from miles around to ask Tutui what the wind had told him. He would sit in his tree and sing the beautiful songs of the whispering wind for all the eager animals. Then he would sing, "Be quiet and still as I have been and you too shall know the whispering wind." All the animals sighed and said, "Ah, yes, it is nice to hear-but to really know the whispering wind and to feel you're inside—instead of just feeling it inside you—would be the greatest of all things."
One day, when the animals came to hear Tutui sing, sitting at the very back of the crowd was a strange creature they had never seen before. It had no legs at all, and its head and neck and body seemed to be all one long vine of green scales. "I have an idea," the strange creature said. It was too bad the other animals were so polite and listened to it, for the creature was evil and didn't like the sound of the whispering wind at all.
"Here is my idea... Let us write down the things that Tutui sings to keep forever." It SOUNDED like a good idea, so that night, the animals asked the moncats to take some blueberry juice and write on a big rock.
They mashed the berries and stuck their little paws and tails in the blue goop, and began to work. Since the animals had never written anything before, the moncats made up their own symbols. "How shall we read it?" asked Flugle, the limb-nibbler. "I will tell you what it says," said the long green thing. "Now," said the strange thing, "since we have it all written on the rock, there is no need for anyone to sit still any more." It SOUNDED like a good idea, so the animals went away to work and play and eat and sleep, and they forgot all about sitting still.
The evil creature sat by the rock, and the animals would come and listen to him translate the moncats' blueberry stains. The problem was, that after awhile, the green thing started changing the meaning, and soon, he started changing the rules—and the changes were bad. "Animals are not able to know the whispering wind," he said. "Animals can only learn about it through the symbols on the rock. Moncats know the most about the whispering wind, so they shall write down more of what they know. These are the words of the wind."
Soon the animals forgot how to sit still and hear the whispering wind themselves. They began to believe that no animal could know the whispering wind. Worst of all, they began to forget the good rules. Soon, the animals were sad inside, and even the sleepy old bogs couldn't sit still long enough to find out why.
The poor animals became so restless, that they even stopped listening to the green thing's lies, and since the evil creature had gotten his evil way, he decided to simply slink away down a hole in the ground.
The animals became so unhappy they started fighting with each other, which was against the good rules. One horrible day, the snow leaper, Barudas, decided to climb up a tree and jump down on and eat the first small creature that passed by. He was about to leap onto a huglump, when Tutui landed next to him in the tree.
Tutui began to sing the songs of the whispering wind and slowly, the snow leaper felt more and more like sitting still. The longer Tutui sang, the longer Barudas sat still. He closed his eyes, and Tutui stopped singing. Tutui and Barudas sat still together for a long time, until Barudas could hear the whispering wind once again. It had been so long since he had heard it, that tears came into his eyes, and he felt full of joy.
"Oh, Tutui," said Barudas, "will I ever really know the whispering wind?" "Yes," said Tutui, "but you have to practice sitting still, like I do." "Why didn't you tell us the green creature was evil?" asked Barudas. "I did," chirped Tutui, "but no one heard me, so I flew away. I think now, maybe the others are ready to hear me once again. Let us go and sing the songs of the whispering wind to all who can hear us."
The snow leaper jumped from the tree and ran to the place where the moncats had drawn on the rock. Tutui flew and landed in his tree, then Barudas let out a great howling cry that could be heard throughout the land. All the animals came running. The far-flyer spotted Tutui and screeched, "It's Tutui, it's Tutui! Tutui is back!" The animals all had tears of joy. "Tutui!" they shouted. "We've been so sad. We have forgotten how to sit still." Tutui sang quietly until a hush came over the crowd. Soon the animals started to sit still and close their eyes. After a while, they heard for the first time in a very long time the voice of the whispering wind. Barudas softly said, "We will practice sitting still, and someday we will know the whispering wind."
Year by year, they practiced sitting still, and by and by they knew the whispering wind, and were never sad again.
The Whispering Wind
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