Once upon a time, in a sunny little city, there lived a family of pigeons. In this cozy family, there was a little pigeon named Petunia. She was a lovely little thing with soft feathers that glowed in the sun, and big bright eyes that looked forward to a happy first flight.
Every day she went to the window and gazed at the blue, blue sky, with a great longing in her little heart to fly a little way upon it. Soon it would be time for her first flight, she thought, but always her father and mother said, “What, fly away from us, Petunia? Oh, no, no, never! Never, never!” And it made Petunia so sad that she was obliged to give up all hope of ever flying.
But Petunia was a happy little pigeon, and every time her mother called out ‘Petunia’ she quickly flew to her side with a chirp of joy. There was a merry little pigeon called Johnny, who lived with them, and Petunia never said no to him when he asked her to play, but quite often when she was away from her family she would sit quite still, with her little head on one side, looking at the big blue sky, and wish.
One day Johnny said to her, “Don’t you want to fly to the white clouds, and over the trees, and away off there, to where the pretty flowers are always waving about?”
“Oh, my! Yes!” cried Petunia, opening her eyes very wide; “but they would never let me.”
“Let you! Why not? What’s to hinder you?”
“Oh, I don’t know! I wish I could! But perhaps I shall one day! Oh, I DO hope I shall!”
It was the break of day; the sun was coming up, and Petunia stood at the window and looked steadily before her. Her little heart was full of hope, and her head was full of dreams. At last she spread out her little wings. “I will, I will! I can and I WILL!” and flew away over the lovely sunny city, where all the other little pigeons were saying ‘Coo, coo’ in their dreams.
She skimmed over the red, red roofs, and the bright green trees, and away over the lovely fields, where the new-sown wheat was dancing to and fro in the morning breeze, and away into the blue, blue sky, where the soft white clouds were floating. Where should she go? “Oh dear! Oh dear! What shall I do?” cried Petunia, hardly knowing whether she was awake or asleep; and so she sat down on a branch of a tree to rest. Far, far before her were green and brown hills, blue and purple mountains, and tall, white houses that looked far away, away in another world.
“Well, what do you think of it?” said Johnny, sitting down beside her quite out of breath.
“Oh! it’s the loveliest, loveliest place in the whole world! And there are the most exquisite flowers, and the most beautiful houses galore. Why did we never know it before? And just see how many birds are flying in all directions. Oh! I’m so happy!”
But when she turned round to tell Johnny of the beautiful things she saw, she found that he had grown tired of waiting and was fast asleep.
So she flew away again. She saw the big blue sea lying calm and placid before her, with the mountains and trees said to be so beautiful. At last she reached the edge of the sea, where the great fishes were tumbling and splashing about in the waves, and the soft shell-fishes were floating from side to side and the seaweed, proud of its first green finery, was swinging backwards and forwards. She tasted the fresh sea-water; it was so nice and cool that she started up afresh from the rock on which she was resting.
“How very tiresome those green things are! They never stop swinging. I hope I do not look as silly as they are!”
And away she flew, over the rocks, till she came to the edge of a little bushy wood, through which there wound a pretty little stream. Petunia grew tired and sat down on the turf, right in the middle of the little stream, with her legs and feet dipped into the cool water. “This will never do!” said she, “I may sit here till doomsday. Heigho! how slow time goes here all alone. But what can I do? I can’t go home. Oh, how long it is before we shall see the sun, and oh! how cold I am!”
And sitting on the grass she felt colder and colder until she really could not make up her mind to fly away. Far, far in the blue distance all she could see were the lofty mountains, for they looked higher than highest towers, the green valleys, and the calm blue sea, and Petunia thought she had come to a strange and lonely world.
“Coo, coo! Petunia!” said a voice she knew well.
“Yes, yes! Johnny, is that you? What IS it?”
“Oh, Petunia, oh! I was so frightened! We looked for you everywhere; we called and called, and we searched and searched.”
“Yes, but you did not come out to find me.”
“Out? Oh, Petunia! but excuse us for having stayed at home.”
“Well, I never thought of that! Yes, yes! I forgot to think of the old house, and the hot, loving father and mother. Well, I shall fly back directly.”
And away they came through the dark wood and over the beach, to where the bright sun was shining, the little waves were splashing on the shore, and the lovely flowers were nodding their heads about. When they reached this spot, Petunia was rested and felt rather chilly, but it was too lovely to stay away from. Petunia picked some very large sea shells, for Johnny to carry, and they were going away with them.
All at once they saw two little spikes of her father’s and mother’s house, and the flowers and green leaves were flying and flapping to and fro.
“Oh, Petunia, I’m so frightened!” said Johnny.
“My! how gray the sky is over our house, and how black it looks in the garden.” In fact, it was a great storm, which the sea laughed at.
“Up, up,” said Petunia; “this grum sky cannot frighten us!”
“I should like to see you fly up,” said Johnny.
But Petunia merely tilted her wings and stood still, till she was quite high above the sea.
“Oh,” cried she, “I can see my own little house now; don’t you see the red pinacles in the huge tall towers? The half of the sky is very gray, and the other half is blue.”
“There!” said Johnny. “I told you, and you wouldn’t believe it, that there is snow up on the mountain, for we looked and looked, my! and we had great hearts. But I am very tired. I do wish we were at home, and there I will go to sleep in peace. Petunia! Come!”
“Bye, bye!” cried she, flying away from him. “Now, I am going to take my things home!”
“Oh, no! you will lose them, without doubt, look how large the little waves are. And here my little things are washed away!”
And away they flew to their native city. Petunia nestled up to her father and mother. They kissed her over and over again, and so they did all her brothers and relatives. I never, never, never will fly away again,” said Petunia. “Oh, there is no place in the whole wide, wide world, like home!”
“I told you so,” said Johnny.