She was poor and uneducated. She was a peasant farmer's daughter, after all. Despite her hard life of household chores, tending the livestock and her garden, as well as long hours working with her father in the fields, she was quite pleasing to the eye. Surely she would be more than happy to become a squire's bride and live a life of wealth and leisure. Wouldn't she?

In the beginning days there were only two human people, First Man and First Woman. One day they had a terrible argument. In her anger, First Woman left their home and began walking. She walked fast and straight, neither looking to the left nor to the right. First Man watched her walk away, and realized she meant more to him than any argument. He called to her, but her ears were closed by anger. She did not hear him. First Man tried to catch up to her, but her angry steps were fast and determined. She easily outwalked him, leaving him far behind.

The tiny bird huddled on the ground against the trunk of a ancient gnarled oak tree. Its spreading roots formed a small hollow just large enough for the little bird to fit in and be out of the wind. Trapped on the ground with a broken wing, it had not been able to migrate south in search of warmer weather with the rest of the flock. It couldn't even fly well enough to get up into the tree where it would be safe from wind and predators. The best it could hope for tonight was to be too small to attract any hungry hunters in the night while it huddled amongst leaves against the base of the old oak. Fluffing up its feathers against the cold, the tiny one tucked its head under its good wing and drifted off into a fitful sleep.