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 THE PUZZLEMENT OF THE PEACOCK A Christmas Fable
 by Barbara J. Olexer Once upon a time, in a garden of incomparable beauty andtranquility, there lived a peacock. This peacock – his name was Sam – was no longer a fledgling and had passed his mid-life crisis so he hadtime to reflect on the things he experienced and to contemplate themysteries of life. When he was young, he had spent most of his timestrutting around with his tail feathers open in a wide, gorgeous fan toimpress the peahens. And they were impressed, too! But even then henoticed that the peahens were not the only ones who were impressed.Humans were, as well.Humans watched him raptly as he stalked about in great dignity,holding high his enormous fan of iridescent blue and green and gilt withall the colorful decorations on the tip of each feather. It was heavy and
 
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sometimes he got very tired but everyone loved to look at him so muchthat he didn’t really mind the inconvenience. And sometimes, even in hisgiddy youth, he would think about the humans. He felt so sorry for them.Poor things, they were not even as decorative as the peahens, who hadno tail feathers to speak of, or even the mallard drakes with their fairlyfine feathers. In fact, they weren’t even as pretty as the swans, who weregraceful and regal, even if they were plain white.The poor, drab humans. Oh, a few of them had skins that were kindof bright and shiny but they were big and awkward-looking. They hadno wings and no feathers at all, much less gorgeous tail feathers. Theydidn’t even have slim legs and toes. Theirs were bulbous and very funnylooking. Sam often wondered how humans managed to walk, they wereso oddly-shaped, sticking way up in the air as they did with their upper appendages flopping around with every step.Sam liked to fly up into the weeping willow that grew beside thegarden pond. He would sit there for hours, watching what went on belowhim on the ground and in the water and thinking long, deep, profoundthoughts. He smiled at the ducks who broke into excited quacking manytimes every day and all over nothing at all as far as he could tell. Hesmiled at the humans, too, in a tolerantly scornful kind of way. Althoughthey didn’t look like ducks, they resembled ducks in other ways. Theywere incessantly quacking and chasing one another and pecking at oneanother and moving restlessly to and fro. Sam knew, of course, that eachentity on earth has a purpose but he could not imagine the reason behindthe creation of humankind.There was a rhythm to life in the garden. Spring, summer, autumn,and winter came and went, year after year. Sam enjoyed each season inturn. He was attuned to the rhythm and accepted the weather pattern of each season without wishing it were different. Only one time of year  brought disharmony to Sam. Every year after the willow leaves hadturned from green to golden and had all fallen to the ground; when thedays grew short and the nights long, the humans seldom came to thegarden. And some of them – this was the part that puzzled Sam andunsettled him – turned hard as stone. And, what’s more, they stayed in
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