The one who has lost hope needs to know that it is certain that his soul comes from a high, high place. And he needs to get a hold of himself, not to lose his spiritual wealth and individual preciousness and the sweetness in his soul which is beyond the seeing of the eye. (From the writings of Rav Natan, disciple of Rav Nachman, Lekutai Halachot, Birchat HaShachar 3:5)

It was a time of famine in the forest. Food was scarce and the broods were small. But nature has its own sense of irony and it was just at this time that a most exquisitely beautiful bird was born. She had a fine black cloak of feathers spangled with rubies and emeralds, every color of a queen's crown, spotted all round with flecks of gold.

Because of the hunger, the beautiful bird's mother had assumed she would just let her chick die quickly rather than have her fade miserably from starvation. But as her baby squawked on and on, she could not bear to let such a beautiful young one go.

She went to speak to a thief, one of the forest birds that does not know how to build its own nest and so lays its eggs among those of a stranger, exiling another mother from her chicks, raising a brood half hers and half borrowed.

"Please," said the beautiful bird's mother, "take my home and raise my chick. I cannot stand to see my baby die. She is too beautiful to throw onto the heap of this famine's ruin."

The thief agreed, happy to have so easily acquired her much-needed nest. She raised her own chicks, ignoring the beautiful bird all but completely, shoving her into a corner and using her to cushion the others from the wind and cold. But, even with this, the babe survived, picking up odd bits of food that clung to discarded chaff, succoring on drool that dropped down with bits of worm and seed.

Then, before she was really ready to fly, the beautiful bird, anxious to escape her maltreatment, fled from the thief. With no one to accompany her, she floundered not a few times. But her determination was as great as her beauty and she managed to survive.

Out of fear of being returned to her miserable life, she then fled into the depths of the forest. Deep, deep she flew into the darkness of enveloping green, a darkness that soaked up all light, even by day. But still her pain was great, and it drove her deeper and deeper into the green night till she came to the swamp place ruled by alligators and iguanas, damp with moss, long vines tangling the air, and dank smells wafting like drunken butterflies from below.

In this terrible place, the beautiful bird felt a sort of safety, knowing that no one would follow her here. This, even while she feared for her life from the slithering deadly crush of a massive python, the merciless tearing of the wretched-beaked birds of prey. But because she had no idea of her beauty and her preciousness, and because she was used to being pushed into such small spaces by the cruel thief, accustomed to the awful smell of its drool, she stayed on and on, losing track of time and season.

After a while in the depths of the forest swamp, even her dreams became populated with serpents and other omnivorous beasts, and she began to think of herself as living in the belly of some huge reptilian monster. And so, though she survived, she had reached the bottom of her life.

Then one day a dove swept up in a violent storm lost its way home and was carried deep, deep into the dark depths of the forest. She whorled through the thickets and twisted paths of vines and undergrowth. She was tossed high into the trees and dragged low to the mouth of the black swamp. She had all but given up hope of rescue when she glimpsed the most beautiful bird she had ever seen. With all of her remaining strength she forced the rushing air around her wings to bring her alongside this bejeweled vision. She stretched out her taloned feet, and with great effort latched onto a branch near the bird.

"Where am I?" cried the dove, exhausted, almost finished.

The black-coated bird groggily ruffled her feathers with an even greater exhaustion, for she remained only half in this world. "This is the dark place," she said. "It has no name. I reached here by misfortune after misfortune. It is a place whose way I know all too well and it crawls with animals whose howling at night would scare to death any normal creature. You will soon forget there is any other."

The dove cringed. "Why, your heart is even darker than your pitch black coat!" she said. "What has happened to you? Where are the rubies and emeralds of your soul, the gold of your birthright?"

"I was most unfortunate," said the bird. "I was born during a time of famine and abandoned to a thief. My heart was large and beautiful like my coloring but it has turned into a blackened furnace through neglect. Now its only appetite is to suck into it all the dreadful sights of this world."

The dove, having been raised among the most faithful of all birds, didn't really understand this unusual bird of black coat, but she offered to help her if only she would guide her out of this morass.

"I know the way out," said the royal black bird. "But I don't know where to go from there."

"Very well," said the dove. "You will guide me to the edge of the forest. Then I will take you to the Well Waters, where you can ask for advice."

"What is that?" asked the black bird with golden flecks.

"You will see what you will see," said the dove. "My kind knows only faithfulness. If you will trust me, your reward will be as great as the world."

The beautiful bird did not understand the dove but she heard kindness in her voice, something she remembered, though not from this lifetime.

"I will lead you from here," said the beautiful bird.

It was the first time she had done a kind deed for someone and though she didn't understand it, a heaviness lifted from her heart as she helped the dove return home. When they reached the edge of the forest, the two birds stopped to rest.

"You have done a great thing for me," said the dove. "I owe you life. I hope I will succeed in repaying you. Now, if you wish, you can follow me."

Feeling again the warmth of the dove, the black bird flew gratefully alongside her white wing.

"Before I take you to the waters, let's fly over my home." The black bird could hardly believe what she saw as they passed over. Pair after pair of doves, cooing and bowing to each other with affection. "Each respects the choice of the others. A pair of birds stays together for life. There is always singing here."

The dove then continued to guide her friend to a huge well. "Now I will teach you the lesson of the waters. When you look inside, you will see yourself as you really are, for the first time. It will be startling, but you must trust me that you have much in your soul that can be beautiful in this world."

The dove then brought the queen of all the black birds to the well. Her colors glimmered gloriously in the sun-filled water. The shock of the beauty she beheld filled the black bird with emotions she only dimly recalled. "I have never seen anything so lovely," said the bird. "But if I am so beautiful how can it be that my life has been so unfortunate?"

"I cannot tell you that," said the dove. "Gaze deeply into the clear waters and ask your question."

The queen gazed with all her ability of concentration. Then a voice said, "You are a queen. There is always a great one scattered in every generation. You have learned the lesson of pain and exile and it is etched sharply onto the beauty of your heart. That has always been yours."

The black bird returned to the dove and told her what had happened.

"I cannot guide you anymore," said the dove. The Well Waters are with my kind because of our faithfulness. We do not know the lesson of pain and exile. That is your unique knowledge. I don't know why, but for some reason you are the right one to carry it, my queen."

The golden one left the dove and returned to the murky depths of the forest, but she no longer had any desire to stay there. When she went back to her own kind but the wisdom she had learned made her seem strange and she was not accepted, so she went to make her new life by the bank of a river. There she raised a family during the good years and her children were as beautiful as she with a drop of silvery light in their countenance and a sweetness in their warble that brought peacefulness to the queen and all the forest around.