Tales of the Birds

by Fowler W. Warde (William War 1847-1921

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

Reviews

[Putu Sita Witari]

Mereka berkisah tentang musim dingin yang terlalu panjang,
tentang buah hawthorn yang habis dipetik,
tentang embun beku yang membekukan tanah
hingga paruh tak bisa lagi menggali.

Cocktail memimpin dengan dada membusung,
mengikuti matahari ke selatan,
meninggalkan yang tua di bawah pagar
dengan kepala di balik sayap.

Tapi cerita tak berhenti di situ.
Ada burung gereja yang selamat dari jubilee,
elang yang melindungi sarang di tebing,
gagak yang meratapi tragedi di kebun.

Mereka berdebat di kebun,
bertengkar soal wilayah,
bercinta di musim semi,
dan mati di musim dingin,
seperti kita.

Fowler duduk di bawah elm,
mencatat semua,
lalu mengubahnya menjadi dongeng
untuk mengingatkan:
bahwa alam tak pernah diam,
dan setiap kepak sayap
adalah baris puisi
yang tak pernah selesai.

[Tom]

A lovely short story collection accompanied by delightful illustrations from Bryan Hook. This is a book all about birds and the people who live near them. Sometimes we follow the birds themselves as they talk and sing like chapters from the Jungle Book. Other stories follow human characters as their lives are impacted by the birds around them. Tender, poignant, adventurous and uplifting, there is a lot to discover in these tales.

My favourite of the stories is the one about a struggling composer who receives a flash of musical inspiration from a nearby Skylark:

”Then as a star comes out in the twilight, there came upon his mind a strain worthy to be married to immortal verse; like the star, it grew in brightness every moment, until he could see it clear and full.”