Beebird’s Song

Long ago, when the creatures ruled the land, all animals lived in harmony with each other and were ruled by the Goddess of Creatures Great and Small. Each morning the Goddess awoke to the call of the birds and animals and slept with the songs of the night creatures in her ears. The animals' music was her rhythm of life. 

Her favorite song was the Beebird's; he had especially beautiful music. And Beebird sang day and night with only tiny pauses while he slept. Beebird's wings were a blur of color as he darted here and there, sipping nectar from each flower.

One sunny morning Wolf and Squirrel went to the Goddess with a complaint. "Goddess, we can't get any sleep," said Wolf. "Beebird has a beautiful song, but it keeps us awake when we need to rest."

"Yes," agreed Squirrel. "All the animals elected us to come before you. No one is sleeping because Beebird is too loud."

The Goddess said she would talk to Beebird and immediately sent for him. When the Goddess told Beebird about the complaints, Beebird buzzed in circles around the Goddess.

The King's Messenger

Muhammad Shah

When the Báb began telling people that a new Messenger of God would soon come He was still quite young, just twenty-four years of age. But His words had divine power. And so it was not long before the whole of Persia knew about Him. Even the Shah heard of Him. He wanted to know more about the Báb. And so he sent his most learned servant, Vahid, to find out all he could about the Bab.

On the way, Vahid thought up the questions he would ask the Báb. They were the most difficult questions he could find. Vahid had never discovered anyone who could answer these questions. Would the Báb be able to do so?

The Báb listened attentively to Vahid's questions. How surprised Vahid was when the Báb then began to answer the difficult and complicated questions. These were the right answers. Vahid was sure of that. He also knew that he himself would never have been able to find them. And he thought, too, that he was the most learned man in the land.

Vahid wanted to ask some more questions. He went to see the Báb a second time. But when he wanted to begin, he had completely forgotten what he wanted to ask. This had never happened to him before. A few moments later he heard the Báb begin to speak. To his amazement, the Báb was giving the answers to the questions which Vahid had forgotten. Although Vahid had said nothing, the Báb knew exactly what he had been going to ask.

Two Goodbyes

I cried when G.T. died. “G.T.” was short for Growl-Tiger. He went back to way before I grew too old to cry - in fact, he was older than me. He had not done much lately. He liked to follow the sun through the house. Most mornings, he lay in a bright spot on my bed; around lunchtime, he dozed in the kitchen window; and in the afternoons he usually slept in a sunbeam on the living room rug. Then one night this spring when I came home from ball practice, I found him still on my pillow. When I picked him up, his legs stuck out stiff, and he was cold.

We buried him under a pear tree he had once loved to climb. “He had a good, long life,” said Dad. “He was a hundred and twelve.” I knew people say one year in a cat's life is equal to seven human years. G.T. had been sixteen.

“Would you like to say a prayer, Tommy?" asked Mother.

I found one in her prayer book, but it asked God to forgive the sins of those who had departed. I did not think G.T. was guilty of any sins. He killed birds when he was young, but that was just his instinct.

Mother read some words by 'Abdu'l-Baha: “A love you have for anyone will not be forgotten in the Kingdom.”

The Young Man in the Green Turban

Do you remember the story of Shaykh Ahmad, who travelled about telling the people that God was sending them a new Teacher? When Shaykh Ahmad died, he left Siyyid Kazim to carryon his work and spread the news of the Promised One.

Perhaps this word "Siyyid" seems a strange one to you ... Siyyid means a member of the family of Mulhammad, that other great Teacher, Who wrote the Qur'an. Of course Muhammad had lived many years before that, but all the men who were later born in that family were called Siyyids. It was a great honor to be related to Muhammad, even if it was many, many years later.

Here is another thing Siyyid Kazim told them: this divine Teacher Whom God had promised, was living at that very time. Perhaps He was even living nearby and they did not know Him. You can imagine how surprised they were to hear this, how they must have talked about it and wondered who He was and where He lived: If you and I had been there, we, too, would have wondered, wouldn't we?

It is strange, but when God sends a new divine Teacher to the earth to remind people of Him, only a few know Him at first. Just think. They may see Him on the street or in the shrine where He goes to pray and yet not know Him, because their hearts are not full of love and hope. And some, I am afraid, do not know Him because they are so busy thinking about themselves.

Kindness to animals

One day, when the weather was cold and wet, a seven-year-old boy was coming home from school. He was alone. None of his classmates were with him since he had to stay behind at school to finish his work. He had his school bag on his shoulder and, because of the cold weather, he had his hands deep in his pockets. It was very cold and very wet.

The boy was walking quickly with his head down. He wanted to reach home soon and get warm. As he was walking, he was thinking to himself that when he gets home, his mother would have a warm room and delicious food ready for him. He imagined that, as he arrived home, he would take off his heavy wet clothes, and would sit next to the fire drinking hot tea, after which his mother would bring him a bowl of hot soup.

As he was quickly walking along, deep in thought, he heard the groaning of an animal, which sounded like the loud cry of a little baby who had lost its mother. At first, the boy wanted to ignore it and pass by. But when he heard the cry again, he stopped. When he listened carefully, he realized that the noise sounded like a little kitten, although it could not be seen. As he looked around carefully, he saw a beautiful little white kitten lying in the cold mud meowing (crying).