Once upon a time...

There were two little sparrows picking up crumbs outside an international school. One came from a family that only ate white bread; one came from a family that only ate brown bread. If it hadn't been for a recent windstorm, the two sparrows would never have met, but their nests on the opposite sides of the school had been blown down. So they carefully shared the same space by the playground for the time being, and when it was snack time they both followed after the children.

The little sparrow with white spots on his head pretended to only be interested in the brown bread on the picnic tables, and the big sparrow with white-tipped feathers pretended to be busy with the crumbs from hamburger buns on the steps. After a while, though, the wind swept all the crumbs together in a whirling pile in the middle of the playground. Just as the sparrows had given up on finishing lunch, the wind chuckled at them and let the crumbs drop in one heap. The white tipped bird, who was known in his family for having a bit of an attitude, sauntered up to the pile as if he owned it. Having got there, though, he realised that it would ruin his cool image if he started picking through to find his brown crumbs.

White-Spots was known as a bit of a airhead who forgot things, and by the time the wind had settled, he didn't remember that he was supposed to ignore the other bird. So he hopped up in a friendly way and bent down for a bite of white crumbs... only to realise that they were all mixed up with the brown. He stood there in confusion and let out confused cheeps. Normally, his big sister would hear his cheeping and rescue him from any trouble, but she wasn't at the playground that day. The white tipped sparrow looked at him pityingly, but after a minute realised that the spotted bird really didn't know what to do. Without any other options, the spotted bird let out one more unhappy cheep and gave one more hop - and tucked himself right next to the white tipped bird. The bigger bird looked very very surprised. After taking a moment to get over the shock, he carefully let out a polite cheep of his own, trying to get White-Spots to move away. This was a bad idea, because White-Spots only moved closer and looked hopeful.

Sighing, White-Feathers leaned down and pushed some brown crumbs into a pile, then, trying to keep his dignity, moved a few centimetres away. White-Spots took a happy mouthful. Then moved over next to White-Feathers and looked up expectantly. White-Feathers pulled out more brown crumbs and pointedly took a mouthful of white crumbs as he moved to the opposite side of the pile. White-Spots took a mouthful of his own and followed happily.

At this point, White-Feathers had a choice. He could either fly away from this hungry, too-friendly bird... or he could stay and share. He looked carefully around in case any of his friends was watching, and cheeped at White-Spots once more, just in case the smaller bird would take the hint and leave, or at least try to find his own crumbs. No such luck.

With a bird-frown on his face, but the beginnings of a bird-smile in his heart, White Feathers gave a dramatic sigh, as if to say, "This was not my idea!"

And then he leaned down and took a big bite of crumbs - brown and white together. White-Spots looked up at him adoringly. And did the same.

The End.