Once upon a time there was a fine young hawk. He was very handsome and sadly, very vain. The young fowl knew he was stronger, sleeker and more agile than most other birds. His skills as a predator could be matched by very few and he prided himself on being able to demonstrate his prowess to any bird he came into contact with.
One day the hawk ventured into a lush green land that he had never seen before. The trees were just unfurling their new leaves and the grass had lifted it's winter-worn stalks to the ever warming spring sky. With his keen vision the hawk saw a lovely canal with steep banks and thick trees on it's shores.
"I am the strongest, fastest and most handsome bird in this land, I deserve a tree as fine as that big one just above the water's surface," the hawk said to himself.
And so, after circling the old tree several times the Hawk lit upon a sturdy branch.
Shortly after touching down the hawk was inundated by several sparrows who had already claimed the tree as their home.
"You cannot stop here Hawk, you are too big and imposing and our children will never learn to leave our nests if your shadow obscures their sun lit paths. You must leave this tree," they all chirped bravely.
"This is the finest tree in the land, the only tree worthy of such a specimen as myself, I will not leave." And with that the hawk beat his wings several times stretching them to their full span and frightening the sparrows away.
The sparrows swiftly flew to a neighboring tree. They found their friend the robin who was quite clever and quite burly.
"Oh friend robin, we desperately need your help. A large hawk has landed in our tree and will not allow the sunlight to reach our eggs. Please, can't you help?" The sparrows chirped nervously.
The robin flew to the sparrow's beloved tree, puffed up his lovely red breast as best he could and entreated the hawk, "Hawk, you are handsome indeed, but see here, you cannot live in this tree, the worms will never show their pink heads with your sharp eyes peering over the land. We will all starve. You must find another tree in which to make your home."
The hawk was getting terribly annoyed at all the chirping, flitting and fussing. He lowered his brow over his stinging eyes, maliciously strummed his razor talons on the branch beneath his feet and firmly said, "I WILL NOT GO."
Just as the sparrows and the robin were dejectedly beginning to take to the sky, the tiniest of humming birds, who had been listening from a nearby branch flitted directly in front of the hawk.
The humming bird, with his fast little wings, barely stronger than a butterfly, moved very close to the hawk's imposing beak and stared deep into his piercing eyes. He did not flinch. He did not move. He did not blink.
The humming bird was determined to save his minute home. In a voice barely audible to anyone but the hawk's fine-tuned ears he said, "You shall not live here. If you stay, I will strike you down and all the birds throughout the land will know what a small but mighty warrior can do."
Suddenly, a strange sensation overtook the powerful hawk. His feathers felt too close to his skin and a prickly heat had sprung up around his neck. Without so much as a ruffle of his feathers, the hawk flew into the wind never to be seen near the magnificent tree again.
When he returned to his home on the side of a mountain near a stone with a stubby low bush an owl acquaintance of his noticed his arrival. The owl asked the young hawk why he hung his head just so and why he was not doing his usual preening.
The hawk replied, "I met a bird that was stronger, sleeker and more agile than myself and his skills as a predator are no match for my own."
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