Becoming Human

Elizabeth Mumford

Soon it would be feeding time for the small ones, the dawn was beginning to reawake, and the two men were talking quietly, so as not disturb the members nearby. 

A coronet of fireflies haloed his head. Robin was demonstrating how to apply a splint to a calf’s leg that had broken from slipping in the mud.

Hannah Mary watched as the stranger placed his hand on the top knot of a blue dwarf Tit, who had complained (apparently) of a headache. The small bird sat patiently and calmly in Robin’s open hand, with his other hovering just a small way from his crown. Moments later a song erupted from this littlest of souls.

“They wish to further their evolution you know - and this, remarkably, is the greatest pain of all.”

“But Robin, may I dissent? I have seen the fish skim, and dive and glide, with pure happiness beneath their scales - and I have not sensed any uneasiness with their lot.”

“I have seen the herds of grey cattle climb the hills to find the sweetest grass, and when the warm breeze kisses their fat heads, and they are content, I do not find this urgency of change that you speak of.”

“Likewise, this clicking beetle that has come upon us as bold as he does - I find him also to know his place in the world, and feel most safe here.”

Robin lowered his voice to speak with earnest delivery:

“The fish, the cow and the bug are not unhappy in these moments, my friend, I agree. But in times of danger and disease, of struggle with climate or famine, they sorely wish for change.”

“Into what?”

“Into becoming human.”

“How can this be so? And does not the mortal man also suffer the grievances of danger and hardship?”

“Yea, as do the gods - and yet as much as we may admire them for their beauty and we aspire to be as them as well, we are not concerning ourselves with their daily perils. And so it goes.”

“And so it goes.”

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series