Once upon a time, there was an unkindness of ravens living in order and peace, ruled by the wisest of them, whom they called the Chief. He had the darkest and brightest feathers, and he had proven his intelligence on many occasions. The unkindness was very trustful of him.
One spring, seven chickens hatched in the Chief’s family, six crows and a raven. He and his wife were very happy. At first, they did not notice anything special, but as the chicks grew and dropped their downs, they saw that the boy (the smallest of them) seemed to sport a lighter color than the others. They did not worry until the chicken came home crying that everyone was laughing at him and calling him Drabby. The parents had to admit then that their dear Drabby was different. No one had gray feathers in the entire unkindness, not even the oldest of them. Everyone was born black and died as black as ever.
All the wisdom that had made him a leader was useless for the Chief, who was lost for words when it came to offering his son some advice. The parents tried all methods to darken a bit the feathers’ color. They kept him in complete darkness, they bathed him in mud – but to no avail. Eventually, the Chief decided to let things as they were and hope that one day the chick will turn as dark as all the others. He found it no less difficult to ignore the jokes and whispers about his boy, however, and he even had to defend his leading position, which also came to be doubted because of his special progeny.
For his part, Drabby decided he did not even want to become black. So he waited patiently to learn to fly well and look for food, and when he felt strong enough, he told his parents that he would go and find someone like him. His parents tried in vain to convince him that it was useless, that he was better off in his flock of birth, that no one would hurt him as they had already become used to him. But Drabby bade them farewell and flew away in the wider world.
The first day was the hardest. His heart was throbbing and he always turned his head to the trees used by his unkindness. The next day he no longer saw them, but only guessed the direction they were in. On the third day, he fancied an unkindness of ravens at a distance, so he flew there. They turned out to be some quite unfriendly crows. A few days passed and he began to worry. He had not even been able to find another unkindness, so where would he find another gray raven like him? Then he pulled himself together, thinking ”Not only will I find a gray raven, but why not a completely white one?”
One week after leaving home, he finally met a raven sitting quietly on a branch.
– ‘Hello, I’m glad I could meet a brother raven in these places’, Drabby greeted him.
– ‘Welcome to us’, the raven answered, then added: ‘I am Lonely, what’s your name?’
– ‘I am called Drabby because of my special colour’.
– ‘I saw a lot of gray ravens, what’s so special about your colour?’ Lonely asked him in confusion.
– ‘You do not know how happy you made me! All my life I wanted to find out if there were any other creatures like me. There were only black ravens in my unkindness. They have always looked at me like a stranger. Can I get to know the gray ravens, where are they?’, Drabby said impatiently.
– ‘Go South and you’ll reach a deciduous forest stretched beside some large, freshly tilled, fields. You’ll realize you are there when you hear the noise. They tire me out a little, that’s why I leave to hear my thoughts from time to time. Come on, go and let me!’, Lonely interrupted suddenly and roosted better on the green branch.
Drabby flew in a rush and quickly reached the copse he was looking for. Before he let himself be seen, he stopped at some distance to catch his breath. “What shall I say to them? Will they welcome me among them?” As he was thinking of such doubts, a nice white bird flew in front of his eyes and it took him a while to realize it was a raven. Petrified with amazement that he was right after all, he followed it and went to that place where it seemed he could find birds of his own kind, but different from those in his unkindness.
They suddenly went silent upon seeing him. Then the white raven, a girl, asked him:
– ‘Who are you and what brings you here?’
– ‘I’m Drabby and I come from many days away. Lonely told me where I could find you. We have only black ravens in my unkindness and I have been anxious to know if there is anyone else like me since I was little.’
– ‘I am Daredevil, she is Graceful, he is Science Guy, the one over there is Grubber,’ she began to introduce to him ravens of all shades, from black tuna or gray anthracite to milky white. There were even ravens with vividly colored feathers (he even thought he could see a cousin of his, the bird of paradise, a few magpies, also relatives of his, and some crows with varied plumage), but no one was called “Colored” or “White” and, obviously, none of them was called “Drabby”.
– ‘Nobody is like you, and nobody is like someone else,’ said the Science Guy, an ordinary black raven, as some would say.
– ‘What do you like to do?’ Daredevil wanted to know.
– ‘I don’t really know,’ Drabby said in a sad voice. ‘I have been so concerned with my distinctive color that I have used all of my energy to prevent irony from hurting me, to integrate myself and consciously comply with whatever I was ordered to do. On my way to you, I was the happiest, and the discovery of your unkindness pleases me in a way I cannot describe.’
– ‘You have the heart of a traveler, a seeker,’ Daredevil concluded. ‘What would you say if from now on you were to be called ‘Explorer’?’
– ‘It sounds just right,’ agreed Drabby, that is, the Explorer. ‘I know what I have to do: I will return to my unkindness to break the news to them and tell them about you and what they can find in the world. Then I will head westwards, I heard there were some ravens with red claws, I would love to meet them.’
Said and done. From that day onwards, Explorer traveled through the world, learned about many wonderful things, and met countless special ravens (and not the color of their feathers made them special). In his home flock, chicks are learning now about the Explorer’s adventures of which they are very proud.
Chief is older now, but he doesn’t feel sorry that his son won’t take the lead, as tradition would have required. The oldest sister of Drabby (as they still call him) had proved to be an innate leader. Even the most stubborn ravens in the unkindness had to admit that she was the only one able to lead them. After all, what can a parent want more than to see his descendants treading on the path that suits them, rather than the one that was prepared for them.
The World in My Words 