The Turkey and The Seagull Fable

          Once lived a turkey, he was very curious and always causing mischief, because of this, his name was Trouble. One day he asked another fellow turkey why turkeys don’t fly but other birds do. To this the fellow turkey answered: “I do not know. It sure would make escaping from the butcher at Thanksgiving a lot easier, but not flying is the turkeys’ tradition, so I shall not fly.”
          Of course Trouble thought that was a silly reason not to fly. So he went to ask his Mother. “Mother,” Trouble said “Why don’t us turkeys fly?” His mother smiled and answered back, “I do not know, but just thinking about it makes my back ache! Besides not flying is the turkeys’ tradition, so I shall not fly.”
          Still, Trouble was not satisfied. He waddled all the way to Utah, then asked his distant cousin, the Seagull, and said, “Mother, and a fellow turkey told me that turkeys don’t fly because it is their tradition, it might be theirs but it is surely not mine.” Seagull chuckled, “Trouble, Trouble, Trouble! You must not understand! Turkeys aren’t meant to fly. They are meant to be eaten on Thanksgiving dinner, if turkeys flew there’d be no turkey for Thanksgiving, but if you’re sure you want to fly, I’ll teach you. Trouble was very happy and thanked Seagull.
          They started lessons the next day, Seagull taught Trouble how to hold his wings just right and how to land with out having a horrible injury. When the time came that Trouble had learned all there was to learn, Seagull said, “Okay let’s go for a test-fly,”
Trouble agreed and they climbed to the tip-top of the Rocky Mountains. Seagull was the first to go; he jumped and dived gracefully, then flew back up to where Trouble was still standing. “Your turn” Seagull cried. Trouble swallowed hard; as if to try to keep back all of his fears. He nodded, then jumped he opened his wings, straightened his tail feathers, and . . . flew.
          “Ha-ha” Trouble laughed, “wait till’ my flock sees this!” He thanked Seagull one last time, flew to the ground, and waddled all the way back home. All the turkeys welcomed Trouble back home, but no matter how hard Trouble tried, he could never fly again.
          What’s the moral of the story? It fun to try different things, but family traditions last a life time.