Chapter 10
JAZZ, the retired Circus monkey, was out in the woods, all by himself. He had just cut a big pile of green reeds, and some thick, fat, yellow leaves. The reeds, and leaves, were just right--and he knew he was going to be able to weave a beautiful, strong cloth with them.
JAZZ was taking a little rest. He looked down at his hands and feet. His thin fingers, and long toes, were very strong. He had learned to use them for many, many jobs. He always said, “ Ask me to do something . . . the answer is ‘Yes’. Then, I have to figure out how to do it!”
JAZZ was such fun. Everybody always came out to watch when he rode POSEY, the Circus pony, around the Pond, at full speed, laughing all the time--wild laughing. Oh, it was great!
There was the other side, too. JAZZ was NOZZLE's best friend, and best helper. He was the one that organized the Friends of Our Pond meetings. And, he and WHIZZY had invented Berry Ball Soup, which everyone loved.
Now, JAZZ was ready to get started. He arranged some yellow leaves in a line, and began to weave them together, in and out, with a long green reed. It was working! He did it again. Then, he attached one row to the next. He held the cloth up to have a look, and saw five White Cloud Birds, sitting on an overhead branch, watching his every move. Right away, he heard them talking to each other, and he knew they were “wise” and “normal”. JAZZ waved—the Birds waved back, and everything was friendly. One Bird said, “ Want learn.”
And, that started everything off.
JAZZ stood up, and pointed to his hand, and then pointed to one Bird's beak. They seemed to understand. He pointed to his other hand, and pointed to the Bird's foot--they got the idea. Before JAZZ could do anything else, one Bird started to peck on a big leaf on the branch beside him. JAZZ was amazed. It looked impossible. The Bird’s beak moved back and forth so fast it was just a blur. The big, green leaf fell to the ground, in little pieces, all over the place. Now, came the big test . . . could the Birds learn to weave?
Wow--they sure could! They watched JAZZ weave some leaves together. Then, one Bird picked up some reeds, while another had some leaves, and a third Bird held them together, while a fourth Bird pulled the reed through the leaves the entire length of the reed. JAZZ had to clap, and jump around a little bit. He had never seen anything so clever. Just look at how much the Birds had finished-- in just a minute.
JAZZ looked up in the tree, and saw that some more Birds had flown in to watch. These Birds said they wanted to try and do it, too. JAZZ showed them where to find the reeds, and the yellow leaves, while still more Wise Birds arrived. They were all learning to weave from each other.
With all those flashing beaks going on and on, a “buzz, buzz” noise was heard. What JAZZ had been able to do with two hands and one foot, each bird had done with one foot and one beak. But, the Birds had divided the work, and done it together with great speed. It was friendly--it was wonderful--one Bird even said, “Fun, fun, fun!”
And, then, the most wonderful prize of the day!--three Birds sang, “Fun, fun, fun!”—they sang music! The Friends of Our Pond had not known that these Birds could sing, because before the “mint cure”, they could not.
The White Birds kept working, but wondered why JAZZ had suddenly jumped up and run away. It was not long before they found out. JAZZ soon came back with TWITTER, the little, red bird, on his shoulder. She was singing. All the Birds stopped working and listened. TWITTER sang a few notes, and waited. Several of the Wise White Birds tried to copy her.
It was not very good, but it was in the right direction—and, in one day, two great prizes had come to the Wise White Birds--weaving and music.