The Flight of the Hummingbird

There is a story told to a friend of mine by a Tibetan monk.

     One day a great heat storm came to the forest.  Lightning flashed and a bolt struck a group of tinder-dry trees causing them to erupt in flame.  Soon the fire began to spread.  As it grew, it quickly became apparent to the animals of the forest that their home was in danger of being destroyed.

     All the animals raced to the river and safely crossed to the other side.  As they stood there watching the fire consume the forest they noticed that the hummingbird had not joined them.  The owl, bear, wildcat, skunk, snake and the rest were safely away but nowhere could they find hummingbird.

     One of them soon saw it.  Hummingbird was flying to the river and taking a drop of water in its beak, flying quickly to the fire, dropping it into the flames, and flying back to the river for another drop.  The animals called out, "Hummingbird!  Come here and be safe with us!"  But the hummingbird acted as if it did not hear them and kept flying from the river to the fire, each time with a drop of water.

     The other animals began to laugh at hummingbird's antics.  "You'll never put it out," they cried, "You are wasting your time!"  Instead of stopping, their taunts made the hummingbird more determined and it flew even faster.  Back and forth hummingbird darted with the drops of precious water as the fire ravaged the land.

     The fire continued to grow.  The catcalls from the animals grew louder as they watched the forest being consumed in flame.  "You'll never make it!"  "Give up!" they called.  But hummingbird kept on.

     Finally, one of the animals called out, "Why are you doing that?   You'll never succeed!   Why don't you stop?"  Hummingbird paused in flight and answered, "I'm doing the best I can."