The Nighthawk's Star

Nighthawk is truly an ugly bird. His face is covered in splotches here and there as if he has spread peanut paste, and his beak is flat and split all the way to his ears. His legs are like those of elder birds, that he couldn’t walk at all.

Thus, other birds would get disgusted from just seeing Nighthawk’s face.

For instance, Skylark is not a very beautiful bird, but thinks that is better than Nighthawk. So, in the evenings, when Skylark meets him, he closes his eyes, and turns his neck the other way. Consequently, small chatty birds, are always abusing Nighthawk right in front of him.

“Pshaw, It’s him again. Oh, look at him. He’s a true disappointment for the bird kind.”

“Indeed, oh, look how big that mouth is. I guess he’s related to frogs or something like that.”

It is a normal day in the forest.

Oh, if Nighthawk was a real Hawk, those half-baked little birds would tremble with fear by just hearing his name, and would change their colors, shrink up, and hide under a shade. However, in truth, Nighthawk was not a Hawk. Nighthawk was rather the older brother of that beautiful Kingfisher and Hummingbird that is known as the king of birds. Hummingbird sips honey from the flowers, Kingfisher eats fish, and Nighthawk catches and eats flying bugs. In addition, Nighthawk doesn’t have any sharp claws or a sharp beak, so even the weakest birds were not afraid at all.

Then, there’s that question that always comes up, why he has “Hawk” in his name? This is because, Nighthawk’s wings are inordinately strong, and so he resembles the Hawk when he rises upon the sky. Another reason is that his voice is very powerful, that again, makes him somehow look similar to Hawk.

Meanwhile, the Hawk, was thinking about Nighthawk’s name every day, and hated it very much. So then, every time when he sees Nighthawk’s face, he squares his shoulders, and starts repeating, “Change your name, change your name”.

One evening, at last, the Hawk came to Nighthawk’s house.

“Hey. You’re there? Why are you still using that name. You are quite a shameless fellow. You and I are completely different! See I, can fly wherever I want in the blue sky. But you, you only come out in cloudy days or during the night. Then, look at my beak and claws. And, compare it closely to yours.”

“Mr. Hawk. That’s too much. I haven’t chosen my name myself. God gave it to me.”

“No. I can say that my name is a gift from God. However. yours is a borrowed name, from both me and the Night. Come on now, give them back.”

“Mr. Hawk. That’s impossible.”

“It’s possible. I’ll give you a nice name. Your name is Wimpy. It’s a nice name isn’t it? So then, since you changed your name, you need to announce that you are renamed. Got it? For this, you hang a label from you neck with Wimpy written on it, and give a message that from now on you are Wimpy, while bowing in front of everybody’s houses.”

“I can never do that!”

“Of course, you can. Do it. If you don’t do it, until the morning of the day after tomorrow, remember that I’ll immediately, squeeze you to death in my claws. Squeeze your life out of you, I say! I will go around all of the birds’ houses, in the early morning on the deadline, and ask them if you came. If I find a house that you didn’t visit, that’s your end.”

“Oh no that’s too much. If I need to do it, I will rather die right now. Please kill me.”

“Well, then, think it over. Wimpy is not a bad name.” Hawk spread his big wings fully, and flew back to his own nest.

Nighthawk, closed his eyes and sunk in thought.

(Why am I, hated so much by everybody? My face is, like splattered with peanuts past, and my mouth is teared. But, I never, did anything wrong. When a chick white-eyed eagle fell out of its nest, I helped it and took it back. Then the mother, rescued the chick from me as if I’m a robber. And then laughed at me very badly. Ah then, now it’s Wimpy, it’s like hanging a label from my neck, oh what a pitiful story.)