The Bird and the Bard

He awoke a sunny afternoon. A line of drool stretched from his lips, down his chin, and across his finey stitched tunic. Something was making a fierce racket in the trees above him. The bard- handsome,daring, and a rather curious man- could not help but wonder what it might be that was causing such a ruckus.
"Hello!" He called, fearing it may be a maiden in distress. There was no response save for the awful, and somewhat hysterical noise that kept recurring.


"Is someone injured?" He asked, for the noise grew louder and fathomsmore gruff. "Answer me or I shall come to thy aid without permission!" The bard remarked, caring as he was. When the noise simply continued, and no other option seemed available,the bard wrinkled his nose, strapped his boots, and ran at the base of the tree.


 The bark was rough, good for climbing, and several low branches allowed him to scale the tree in no time at all. To his amazement, the noise had stopped. For in  front of him a hideous creature stared in begat wonder.
"Craw!" The beast croaked. The bard stared in simple disbelief.


"And what are you supposed to be?" He inquired, supressing the urgeto laugh.The strange animal cocked its feathery head and flapped its wings in a small fit of anger. It curled it's eyebrows and made a noise as if readying itself to speak.
"Craw!" It shouted once more, before stepping over on its branch.
"So you're what's been making these infuriating sounds."
The bird once again appeared offended and shouted at the bard in anger.  It made another noise, and lifted its enormous brown beak high. "Craweeew Craweeeer cuuuu craaaaaaaaaaw!" It attempted to sing.

The bard covered his ears at the display in mixed emotions. "That's not how one sings!" He shouted, clearly the expert. "Allow me." But before the bard could begin his acapella, the bird pecked him sharply on the forehead. "Ouch!" He raised a hand, which the beast eagerly pecked at again.
"Craw!" It yelled defensively.


"You infuriating bird! Let me show you how a real musician composes!"With that, he reached for the fiddle on his back. Holding it firmly under his chin, the bard began playing a beautiful piece his mother had written. But the bird shut its eyes and stepped to the side, almost losing its balance. The melody was all wrong and the notes weren't sharp enough. It reared its head and pecked fiercly at the instrument, the bard's only true possession.


"Craw!" It said in satisfaction
. But the bard was not satisfied. Such an act had driven him past anger and tears began to form in his eyes."You've ruined it!" he exclaimed, for it was indeed ruined. The strings were bent, the wood was chipped, and it had surely gone out of tune.


"Craw!" The bird remarked, making motions with his beak. It seems it was asking him to play.
 "I can't! It's ruined, and it will never sound the same!
"But the bird just waited.


Defeated, the bard raised his bow and pushed across the mishapen strings, causing the instrument to horrendously wail and screech. The feathery beast began to sing once more, yet this time it somehow sounded better.Stopping momentarily, the bard looked at the bird with a stoic curiosity.


"Craw!" it yelled, furious that he had stopped playing. The bard shook his head and repositioned his fiddle, and he began playing the very same tune he had attempted before. It was awful and unrecognizable, but the bird sung along without missing a step.


When they had finished their duet, he gave the bird another curious look and realized what had happend."You don't sound any better at all!" He accused. "But anything would be more pleasant than this fiddle's racket."


The bird opened its beak to protest, but closed it, instead looking rather pleased with itself. But there was one more problem that the bard had not considered."Wait! You wrecked my fiddle! How am I supposed to perform?"

The bird had an answer to this as well.

"Craw!" it shouted in glee, hopping onto the bard's head.
 "Of course!" he said, somewhat grateful to the bird.
He climbed down the tree with the plump, feathery, creature atop his crown.


When they had reached the bottm, the bard put his fiddle under his chin, and played a horrendous tune. The bird sang along, with the voice of an angel by comparison.


And so it was that they traveled together for the rest of their days.
The bard and his wonderful singing bird.