The Starling and Reginald

Reginald admired the oak tree’s orange leaves and then he bit into the bark. The beaver had been searching for a tree, so that he could make a lodge. His family had been killed by a fur trapper a few weeks ago, and Reginald was worried about not having a home for the upcoming winter.

The oak tree rested on the grassy bank by the stream. In the summer, the grass was scattered with dandelions, which reminded Reginald of the stars. In the autumn, the oak tree turned orange, and it reminded Reginald of the sun. The beaver got to work cutting the oak but made little progress. The tree was wider than a hippopotamus, or at least he thought it was wider. His late brother, Bertram, had told him about all sorts of animals; zebras, polar bears, and the hippopotamus. If Bertram were around, he could confirm the measurements of the big beast, and they could also look for unicorns together! They had never found one, but that didn’t mean that they did not exist!

Reginald sawed away and made little progress because he kept thinking of his adventures with Bertram. A tear went down Reginald’s cheek, and he wiped it away with his claw.

Reginald chipped away at the oak and looked at the small village in the distance and the old church that chimed. He tried to push the memory away of the fur trapper in the red coat who carried away his mother, father and brother in a sack. The thought of it made him feel physically unwell and if he thought of it too much he would faint!

Reginald bit his lip by accident, and let out a squeak. His jaws were not strong enough to cut through the oak! If he were a squirrel, he could climb up the tree and fetch some of those magnificent branches!

He realized that he would have to follow the stream and look for a narrow place to build a lodge that was close to a tree.

“Ooomph, check, check, and armph!” he squeaked the minor beaver curse words under his breath.

Reginald walked alongside the stream, and his thick tail trailed behind him. The sun warmed his back, and he observed a landowner walking over a large hill and sprinkling pesticides onto the soil.

Then, all of a sudden, an apple tree appeared in the distance.

“It doesn’t look so wide!” Reginald thought with delight.

Reginald broke into a gallop and arrived at the apple tree just as the glorious sun started to set.

“Oh my! Oh my!” he declared. The tree was barely one foot in width. If he started to work, he could be done in two days. He worked until his jaw, neck and back were sore. At nighttime, as he drifted off to sleep, he thought of the castles and fine houses that his brother described. He would name the new lodge, Little Warblerbranch, after his family surname. At one point, the Warblerbranches had been well-connected beavers who held prominent positions in the village council. The red-coated fur trapper had stepped on their fine home, which had been called Warblerbranch Lodge. Perhaps, he would name his new lodge Bertram’s Castle, that would be a fine way to honor his beloved brother who had been destined for great things!

The next morning, Reginald rose before the sun and got to work. An hour passed by, and he was halfway done. The project was going much more quickly than expected! He was very efficient for a yearling beaver!

Reginald heard a rush of wind, and then something sharp pierced his side. It was a starling!

He was a beautiful and noble bird; his jet-black coat had brushstrokes of purple and green. The well-dressed starling shrieked, “How dare you saw away at my tree! You have ruined it! See how it now shakes in the breeze?”

The starling pecked Reginald on the head. “You most foolish beaver!”

Reginald sobbed with guilt and embarrassment. “I did not know that it was your home! I would never want to take your home! The fur trapper stepped on our lodge and drowned my family and then took them away! I am very sorry! I would never want to destroy someone’s home.”

The starling narrowed his eyes with contempt. “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t want to destroy someone’s home…you did!”

Reginald felt the heat go up his neck, and he grabbed his thick tail in his claws. Then he looked at the ground, wishing that he could dig a warren like a rabbit.

Starling shrieked, “Now I am exposed! Why! I had the perfect apple tree! It was right by the human’s back door and the hawk and owl had little interest in going near the people and their scarecrows!”

Reginald sobbed, “Oh! Oh! I am very, very sorry! Please forgive me!”

Starling snapped, “I don’t want to discuss forgiveness right now! This is my territory! You silly corgi!”

Reginald said with a touch of pride, “I am not a corgi! I am a beaver! I am Reginald Warblerbranch, and in the olden days we were well-known.” Reginald remembered how lonely he had felt over the past few weeks. He said hesitantly, “Would you like to be friends? I know how to make bark stew!”

The starling shrieked, “This is America, and you are a tree thief! Scram! Scram! I don’t need friends, especially a friend who is dumb enough to cut down someone else’s tree!”

The words stung. Reginald knew that he was one of the least intelligent beavers by the stream. If he hadn’t gone off the play all the time, the trappers would have never discovered the presence of hundreds of beavers in the valley.

Reginald regained his composure from the sharp and truthful words. “I can’t see very well, but aren’t there two trees over yonder?”

The starling squawked, “The swallows have claimed most of the territory around the house! I only moved here in the springtime. I can’t go and claim their territory! They agreed that I could have the apple tree, if I minded my own business!”

The starling went into the branches of the apple tree, and it began to wiggle from his weight.

“It is of no use anymore! Get out of here will you! I do not want to look at the beaver who destroyed my home!”

Reginald galloped off with his tail brushing over the grass. He needed to find a safe place to rest before nightfall. It got dark very quickly, and Reginald scrambled to find a place in a shrub behind some rocks. He was very afraid of coyotes and dogs and as he said his prayers that night, he asked that none of the big creatures found him. He also said a prayer for Starling.

Reginald was counting the stars and looking in the sky for his family when he heard the shrieks of the starling.

“Help! Help! This is not your territory Owl! Stay away! Help! Help!”

Reginald thought of staying in his temporary nest by the shrub, but when he heard the starling shriek once more, he felt a tremendous sense of pain in his heart.

“Here I come, Starling, here I come!!! Help is around the corner!”

Reginald saw the starling fly in circles and dive, the owl was one foot away from catching him.

Reginald rolled back on his haunches and slapped his tail. “Dive down here Starling, right by this patch of dandelions. Hide behind me!””

Starling dove down from the night sky like a meteor and landed beside Reginald. As the owl got inches away, Reginald swung his tail towards the big owl. Then he swung it again for good measure!

“How undignified, I say!” snapped the owl. The owl flew off into the night.

Reginald cried, “I am so sorry. This is all my fault.”

Starling huffed. “No point in being sentimental after the fact! Do you have a nest? I think that I will stay with you this evening, if you do not mind terribly!”

Reginald took the starling to his shrub and kept a lookout for a good portion of the night. Both the creatures said that they would stay up all night and keep watch, but the feeling of safety that comes from companionship can make it too easy to fall asleep. Soon, both the beaver and the starling had entered the world of dreams.

After a few conversations over the course of two days, the starling and the beaver decided to go on a great journey. Miles and miles away, there was a nature sanctuary, far away from the pesticides and fur trappers. Neither Reginald or Starling knew if the place existed or if it was just a story.

They walked alongside the stream hoping to reach the place someday. The starling flew five feet above the beaver and told him about his life. Starling was all alone because his family had been poisoned. He began to speak passionately of the selfish nature of mankind. He abruptly changed the topic and turned away. Reginald was certain that he saw one or two teardrops fall from Starling’s eyes.

They walked for some time, and then Starling began to speak again.

“I wanted to apologize, Reginald. You are not stupid at all. In fact, it was very smart of you to select the apple tree as construction material for your lodge. Humans know that that apple trees are ideal for carving. I am very sorry for my mean words. I was very upset, and when I am upset, I say what I think, and what I think when I am upset is rarely backed by fact.”

Reginald sighed, “That is nice of you to say, but I am foolish. I wondered off too often to go and play and I went too close to the humans and that is how they eventually found the beaver colony.”

The starling flew down and looked at Reginald in the eye. “That is false. Those fur trappers just came to the valley, and it is well known that they have been using drones to hunt. The discovery of the beaver clan has nothing to do with you, Reginald.”

Reginald blinked and said nothing. As he breathed in, it felt that twice the oxygen came into his lungs, and he could breathe well for the first time in weeks.

“Thank you.” Reginald whispered.

After some minutes, Starling said, “There were some rather pompous peacocks in the backyard by the apple tree. The humans fed them every day and spoiled them rotten! One of the peacocks said that I do not have a positive mindset and that it will be hard to ever find friendship if I am always so negative!”

Reginald thought hard for a moment. “Oh, I do not think that you are negative, Starling. Why! You decided that you wanted to be friends with the very beaver who destroyed half of your tree! That seems to be quite positive to me! Also, aren’t we on a journey to a place and we don’t even know if it exists? It seems to me that you have a very hopeful personality considering what you have been through.”

Starling did a small victory swoop in the air. “I say, do you really think so?!”

Reginald offered, “It is normal, I think to have feelings of negativity after something awful happens. My brother said that it is normal to have dark forests, and deep ravines in life and also sunny meadows! I have felt more bitter since losing my family. That is why I get nightmares, but I seem to have fewer of them now that I have a friend who can listen to some of my troubles. My nightmares always concern the man in the red jacket. The trapper.”

Starling said bravely, “If that fur trapper gets within a mile of you, I will peck his eyeballs out!”

Reginald said, “That is very generous of you. I am very glad to have you as a friend, Starling.”

Starling said, “I did not do very well in my Philosophy course at University, I suppose that I went to too many balls, but if I were a philosopher, I would say that beavers and starlings are very well-suited as friends. Starlings can be so pompous; I would much rather be friends with a big-hearted and intelligent beaver!”

Reginald blushed. “Well, I have never had a friend who is as well-spoken as a starling. You also have given me the courage to go on a journey. I have never traveled to a different land before.”

Reginald added, “You would have liked my brother, Bertram. He was the most popular beaver at the stream, and he told me all sorts of stories to help me go to sleep. After the fur trapper came none of the beavers wanted anything to do with me. They felt that our clan brought bad luck to the stream. All the beavers moved to different territories to get far away from the trappers.”

Starling declared, “How dare they make a scapegoat of you!”

Reginald furrowed his brow. “A scapegoat? What sort of goat is that?”

Starling chuckled and explained.

Sometimes, the beaver and the starling would walk for an hour without saying anything at all. It got colder every day. In the mornings, the grass would be covered with frost and as afternoon approached the sun would warm them.

One day, Starling went searching for a snack and Reginald groomed himself. He wandered alongside the stream and was thinking of how clear and beautiful the water was and then he thought about how Christmas was only a few months away. His mother had always put little red stockings in their lodge, and they had nibbled on preserved apples to celebrate Father Christmas.

Then, Reginald saw something big and red, and he felt a pain, and everything went black.

When Reginald woke up, he could only see canvas and he realized that he was in a bag. There was a small hole in the bag, and he could see the fur trapper’s red coat. Reginald still felt dizzy, if he tried to claw his way out of the bag and gallop away, the fur trapper would probably catch him. Reginald knew that he needed to act quickly.

He took a deep breath and screamed, “Starling! Help! Help! Help! I am in the bag! The trapper got me! Help!”

The fur trapper heard the squeaks of the beaver, who he had presumed dead. Reginald wiggled in the bag. The fur trapper moved his hand on the bag and the beaver bit through the canvas onto the fur trapper’s hand.

“AHHH!” the man bellowed as he dropped the bag.

Reginald frantically chewed his way through the small hole. The trapper swung a club, and it landed on Reginald’s tail. Reginald squirmed through the hole and started to run dizzily down the path. He heard the fur trapper run angrily behind him.

“Help! Help!” Reginald screamed.

Suddenly, Reginald heard the man cry out in pain. The beaver turned around and saw Starling claw at the trapper’s eyes and then he pecked at the trapper’s ear.

Starling paused for a moment and the trapper walked towards Reginald once more. Starling swooped down and clawed at the trapper’s forehead leaving it scratched and bloodied.

“You cursed bird!” the trapper bellowed. Starling went for the ear opening once more. The trapper turned around and grabbed Starling. Reginald cried out and ran towards the trapper and bit into his ankle with all of his might.

The trapper screamed and limped down the dirt road. Reginald sobbed as he looked at Starling on the ground. Starling tried to move his right wing, but it was broken. Reginald was very afraid. He went to the stream and after hours of searching found an old bit of string. He wrapped it around his shoulders with his nimble claws and secured Starling. They continued their journey.

Reginald did his best to search for nourishment, but it got harder every day. He needed to find the nature sanctuary.

One afternoon, it began to snow in earnest. They were beginning to get tired and worried about the winter when they saw a handsome cabin in the distance, and smoke coming from the chimney, and a large forest in the background. There was a sign in front of the cabin.

Reginald carried Starling and they came upon the sign. Reginald could not read, and he got as close as possible so that the weakened Starling could make out the words.

Starling croaked, “It is the clinic for the nature sanctuary. Do you suppose that they can mend my wing?”

Reginald climbed up the steps and thumped his tail against the front door. A woman came out and immediately set to work helping the animals.

For many changing seasons, Reginald and Starling lived at the sanctuary. Starling’s wing was mended by the sanctuary vet. They admired dandelions on the grassy bank and looked for bluebells and mushrooms in the forest. Starling befriended other starlings, and Reginald found beavers who became close friends. It was a well-known fact that Starling and Reginald remained the very best of friends for the rest of their lives.