Birdtober Day Fifteen: White-naped Crane

 

 

 

Hera, the wife of an unfaithful husband,
often was overcome with jealousy.
She turned women into animals,
sometimes because Zeus loved them,
sometimes because they had compared themselves with her,
and sometimes just because.

Chelone became a tortoise,
Callisto a bear,
Gerana a crane,
Antigone a stork.

Linnaeus called the crane family Antigone
because he got confused
and really, who can blame him?

But unlike Hera,
storks aren’t much concerned about others.
Antigone Vipio,
for example,
is busy breeding in Mongolia,
complete with elaborate dances involving throwing grass,
raising chicks,
wintering in China or Korea or Japan.

You may call them whatever you like,
as long as you leave them alone.

©Ruth Bowen Hersey