"The Bird and the Button" by Stanton F. Fink

A large, shiny, black bird with a large, shiny, yellow bill came down from the sky one morning to perch on my windowsill. It pecked at my window, and when I opened the window, it flew into my room. It waddled and hopped about like an obese raven. I saw that its wings were crimson.

It entered my closet, and plucked a pearl-studded button from my left shoe. It opened its bill wide, and made a noise not unlike an eagle's cry, if the eagle were being strangled underwater. It flapped its crimson wings, tucked its prize in its bill, flew out of my room, and into the street below.

I quickly finished dressing, and dashed outside. It stood there in the cobblestone street, as if it were waiting for me. Apparently pleased that I came out to play, it calmly took wing once again.

For an hour, I chased after the large, black bird, my button still in its large, yellow bill. It would sometimes fly slowly enough for me to almost touch its tail feathers, but just as I was about to do so, it shot out of reach. Another hour passed, and the large, black bird, too, tired of this game. It alighted on a tree branch, and began to coo like a dove. It took wing yet again, and flew into the marketplace.

The marketplace was packed people searching for things to buy, people searching for things to sell. As I wove through the teeming throngs of people, a chicken peddler stopped me to ask me if I would buy his hens. I tried to ignore him, as I wished to find the thief of my shoe button. He continued to stridently beg me to buy a chicken. I caught sight of the bird again when his tone of voice became shrill. Not wanting him to cry, I gave in, and bought his smallest pullet. Perhaps when I return home, I thought to myself, I'd have two birds to roast.

The black bird waddled up to a stall run by a baker and his wife. The baker was busy calling passers-by to purchase his breads and pastries, while his wife tended to her hens, and their chicks. The black bird, who was perhaps three times as large as the chickens, waddled up to the baker's wife, placed my button in a claw, covered its face up with its crimson wings, and began to weep like a child. The baker's wife gently coaxed its head from its feathers, stroking it as if it were a child. "Mama?" it squawked. She laughed, as did her husband. The baker placed a sugared roll before it. The bird placed my button in its yellow bill once more, bowed with a grand flourish, and grabbed the roll in its talons as it flew off.

My pursuit of the bird took me far from my village, and deep into the forest. It stood in an elfin arena, lovingly woven from sticks, in a clearing. It took its roll into its bill, and with a flick of its head, swallowed the whole thing.  Having finished its roll, it was now waiting for something. For a moment, I thought I was what it was waiting for.

Suddenly, something rustled in the foliage just beyond the arena. From the dark herbage burst another large, shiny, black bird, with a shiny, yellow bill. The second held a strawberry in its bill. The first bird presented my button to its mate, and the second presented the strawberry to the first. They raised their crimson wings, and opened their straw-colored bills. For hours, they slowly pecked at each other, gaped at each other, and flapped their wings. I found it to be a very lovely spectacle, though. Then suddenly, the pullet I had bought (and had apparently forgotten about) began to squawk and flap violently, forcing me to let go of it. It fluttered away, never to be seen (at least by me, anyways) again. The second bird did not take to its dance being so rudely interrupted very well. It glowered at me before waddling back into the forest gloom. The first bird, however, graciously bowed for me before following its mate into the undergrowth.

I then spied that it had left my button behind. I hurried into the arena to reclaim my button. I then saw that the strawberry was actually a small brooch made from red stone.

"That's mine," cried someone. A girl my age entered the arena. She took her brooch out of my hand. We stared at each other, and then we smiled at each other. I smiled more as I led her out of the forest.