June is Yellow, London's Blue

                                   

Photo courtesy:Clip2art.com

 Once upon a time there lived in the  garden of a house in London a pair of swallows with their baby swallow. By the time the little swallow learned to fly it was late autumn, the time for the swallows to migrate, to start their long, long journey to a warmer climate. So taking their young one with them they flew away from London city, across France, across the Pyrenees, across Spain, across Morocco, across the Sahara and reached their destination in Africa.

When it was time for them to start their return journey the swallow- parents began to talk to the baby swallow about how wonderful it would be in London when they reach the city in the summer, in the sunny month of June. If they are lucky they may find the nest that they abandoned to be in good condition despite the sleet and snowfall of the chilling winter. 

The baby swallow who had no memory of her early life in London listened with interest to her mother  telling her about the mistress of the house in whose garden in a hole in the trunk of  an oak tree the two of them had so painstakingly built their nest with pellets of mud mixed with fibrous grass and soft feathers. The lady of the house loved plants and flowers.Yellow seemed to be her favourite colour. She had a garden full of sunflowers and daffodils;even the roses that bloomed in her garden were yellow! She also loved birds and had placed in the garden a bird bath made out of yellow marble for birds to come and bathe and drink water from. When her two children used to play in the garden the swallows had heard her telling them many a time not to shout and frighten away the birds from the garden

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 The swallows arrived at their destination very late in the night. To their joy they found their nest had not been ruined by the harsh winter season. Out of sheer fatigue the swallow family soon fell asleep. At the wake of dawn the father swallow went out and returned with his beak full of food for the family. 

The mother bird woke up her little one and pointed out to her the beauty of the month of June in London.Looking up,she pointed out to her the beauty of the yellow sun up above in the blue sky speckled with woolly white clouds. Looking down below she pointed out to her the beauty of the golden sunflowers and daffodils dancing in the breeze, gazing adoringly at the sun. She pointed out to her the beauty of the river Thames far away shimmering in the sun like sequined blue silk. Nature seemed so glorious, all blue and golden! Looking tenderly at the little swallow huddling under her wing she sang softly,

    June is yellow,
    London's blue
    The honey is sweet
    And so are you

                                                                                                                   
Bhadra S.