The Quail Chick and the Fire

A mother quail, forced to leave her nest each day to find food, left behind a single chick too young to fly, hidden among dry grass in the forest. One day, a great fire swept through the area, roaring closer and closer while the helpless chick could do nothing but wait, unable to escape on wings that had not yet grown.

Remembering wisdom her mother had once told her — that a declaration of pure truth carries a protective power of its own — the young chick made a solemn, honest statement: she had wings that could not yet fly and legs that could not yet walk, her mother was away, and the fire was approaching, and by the truth of these plain facts alone, she asked that the flames turn back.

Whether by the truth of her simple, honest words or by pure chance, the fire, upon reaching the edge of her nest, curved away and burned around her in a perfect circle, leaving the chick and her small patch of grass completely untouched, while everything around her burned. Her mother, returning to find her safe, taught the lesson to every quail after her: honesty carries more power than fear ever could.