Happy reading
Birds of ill omen and birds of good omen
Men, in relation to one another, are comparable to walls facing each other. Each wall is pierced with a multitude of small holes where gray birds and multicolored birds nest. The gray birds are bad thoughts and negative words. The multicolored birds are good thoughts and positive words.
Multicolored birds, due to their shape, can only enter multicolored bird holes. The same applies to gray birds, which can only nest in gray bird holes.
Now, let us imagine two men who believe themselves to be enemies of one another. Let us call them A and B.
One day, A, convinced that B intends him harm, feels filled with anger toward him and sends him a very bad thought. In doing so, he releases a gray bird and, at the same time, frees up a corresponding hole. His gray bird flies toward B and seeks, in which to nest, an empty hole suited to its shape. If, on his side, B has not sent a gray bird toward … that is to say, if he has not emitted any negative thought, none of his gray holes will be empty. Finding no place to settle, A's gray bird will be forced to return to its original hole, bringing back with it the harm it was carrying, harm that will eventually gnaw at and destroy A himself.
But let us imagine that B, too, has emitted a bad thought. In doing so, he has freed a hole into which A’s gray bird can enter to deposit part of its evil and carry out its mission of destruction. Meanwhile, B’s gray bird will fly to A and settle in the hole freed by A’s gray bird. Thus, the two gray birds will have achieved their goal and will work to destroy the man to whom they were destined.
But once their task is accomplished, they will each return to their original nest, for it is said: “All things return to their source.” The evil they carried not being exhausted, that evil will turn back upon its authors and complete their destruction. The author of a bad thought, a bad wish, or a curse is therefore struck both by the grey bird of his enemy and by his own grey bird, when the latter returns to him.
The same thing happens with the multicolored birds: if we only send good thoughts toward our enemy while he sends us only bad thoughts, his gray birds will find no place to lodge with us and will return to their sender. As for the multicolored birds carrying the good thoughts we have sent him, if they find no place with our enemy, they will come back to us laden with all the beneficial energy they carried.
Thus, if we emit only good thoughts, no harm or curse will ever reach us in our being. That is why we must always bless, both our friends and our enemies. Not only does the blessing travel toward its goal to fulfill its mission of peace, but it also returns to us, sooner or later, with all the good it carried.
Adapted from a story by Tierno Bokar Salif Tall, cited by Amadou Hampâté Bâ in “Tierno Bokar, the Sage of Bandiagara,” Seuil, 1980
Have a good day
Marylena
