The Peacock, The Bluebird and The Butterfly

In the glow of the uprising sun, Peacock stood proud,

His wings splayed majestic and his morning call loud,

“I’m fabulously wonderful, now just let me see,

Who’s here in this forest, to marvel at me”

Peacock was beautiful and very, very strong.

He was sure that whoever he met would indeed adore him.

As he looked all around him, the first visitor to admire his splendour appeared.

The modest Bluebird fluttered near to the peacock and the most pleasant of pleasantries was exchanged. Peacock was first to speak, with a confidence and charm that whistled like a hypnotic lullaby in Bluebird's ears. Bluebird did indeed feel flattered from Peacock’s compliments on her dainty stature. In turn, she felt growing admiration for the gregarious and handsome bird that stood before her.

The days past in a soft pink haze of, what seemed, mutual admiration and friendship. One morning, as Bluebird was about to fly up through the morning mist to enjoy the breeze through her feathers and the sun on her beak, Peacock spoke, this time with a voice she did not recognise as the soft, hypnotic tones she was familiar with.

“Don’t flutter your wings, with your head in the clouds,

Stay here and be sensible, down on the ground,

I’ll keep you safe, just stand behind me,

While I spread feathers wide, for all to see”

Bluebird loved to fly, she really, really did. But she also loved Peacock. She floated back to the ground gently, she did not fly down as she now felt that flying may indeed be something of a silly pastime anyway.

As the sun began to set on another day, Peacock’s smile started to fade in timing with the disappearing of the light in the sky.

The next day, Bluebird and Peacock awoke to a new day full of warmth and promise. Peacock provided shade to Bluebird in the midday heat and Bluebird felt safe in Peacock’s shadow, stopping only briefly to muse that she couldn’t quite remember the colours of her own feathers, having spent little time of late out in the full brightness of day.

She missed flying too, so, as it happened by chance at that very moment she was alone with her thoughts, her friend Butterfly appeared by the tree next to where she was and Bluebird very much wanted to fly with her. Butterfly was gold, green, blue and pretty. As she flew up to greet Butterfly, she looked upon her own wings and for a fleeting moment, took the time to look at the bright azure tones of her feathers, making a note to herself that she would store this image, as not to lose sight of it again in future.

Peacock saw Bluebird and Butterfly and smiled his big, handsome, charming smile, and introduced himself to Butterfly with a twinkle in his eye that Bluebird did not perceive as sincere. He and Butterfly exchanged the most pleasant of pleasantries and he complimented Butterfly on her dainty stature and array of various bright colours. He proceeded to tell her that the way she flew was beautiful, how pretty and graceful she looked and how Bluebird had not flown for some time, so was indeed very pleased to see her doing again what she so loved.

As the day once again began to cease, Bluebird and Butterfly brought their rendezvous to an end. Butterfly left happy that she had seen her friend, yet also uneasy somehow. She wondered if it may be that Bluebird’s feathers did not seem so bright, or her smile not so wide.

Peacock grew tired quickly following butterfly’s departure, his mood once again darkening with the night sky. He did not care for Bluebird’s dalliances with her friend or for her frivolous time in the clouds.

“Don’t flutter your wings with your head in the clouds,

Stay here and be sensible, down on the ground”

“I’ll keep you safe, just stand behind me,

While I spread feathers wide for all to see”

Butterfly returned the next day, and the next, and the next. She enjoyed her friend’s company very much, but her reasons were more than that. Bluebird had an aura of sadness that Butterfly endeavoured to resolve. She reminded Bluebird of the independent freedom and pleasure she enjoyed from flying. She insisted that Bluebird take moments to adore the electric shades of her feathers glisten in the sunshine, and she showed her that, out of the shadows, she was once again beautiful. Peacock realised his charm was dissipating into little more than a negative trait in addition to his negative ways. He soon grew to dislike Butterfly and all that she represented.

His tail began to fade in colour gradually, his splendour becoming less splendid. Without Bluebird under his protection his sense of grandeur had no substance.

“Don’t flutter your wings with your head in the clouds,

Stay here and be sensible, down on the ground,

I’ll keep you safe, just stand behind me,

While I spread feathers wide for all to see”

Bluebird had changed. Bluebird had grown. Bluebird had once again found her wings.

“Oh Peacock," said Bluebird, "I’m not for the ground,

I’m for fluttering my wings with my head in the clouds,

If sensible is staying in your shadow all day,

I’d much rather be silly and fly far away,

Free to fly higher and reach for the stars,

Free to touch the moon, or Jupiter or Mars!

Free to be me, all the good and the bad,

If I stay, I’ll regret the life I could have had”

No more was said, Bluebird leapt from the shadow and rose to the sky, her smile growing wider the further she flew from the darkness that that the ground held.

Peacock woke up the next day, the eyes of his feathers tainted with a darker shade, partnered with a heavy heart and a blanket of guilt that lay thick on his chest. He surmised, eventually that he was indeed still fabulous, the very best in fact.

In the glow of the uprising sun, Peacock stood proud,

His wings splayed majestic and his morning call loud,

“I’m fabulously wonderful, now just let me see,

Who’s here in this forest, to marvel at me.”

But no one was there, and no one came that day, or the next, or the next.

Peacock sat, forlorn on the grass, and began to remember the first time he saw Bluebird, she was circling his head in elegant flight. He remembered how she adored him from the second she met him and then he scolded himself, knowing that what she adored was not entirely real, merely a cloak of charming words and smiles. Underneath, in his true, true self, he was a scared, lonely peacock, needing to be loved.

He realised that by allowing Bluebird the freedom to be the beauty that she was, he might lose her to another suitor, so great was his need for her to stay that in gripping so tight, he in fact pushed her away, never to be seen again.

Peacock learned a valuable lesson as he sat on the grass that morning. He vowed from that moment, that he would never restrict that which he loved ever again.

In the glow of the uprising sun, Peacock stood proud,

His wings splayed majestic and his morning call loud,

“To make this world fabulous, it is now I can see,

That someone quite wonderful, should share it with me”