Page:Alice Miller (1917) Women are people (Internet Archive).djvu/44

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WOMEN ARE PEOPLE!


Fable of the Bird and the Sages

Some Eastern prophets, elderly and sage,
Were walking in a wood one summer day,
When suddenly they came upon a cage
Holding a long-winged bird of plumage gay;
And, as this seemed to them a curious thing,
They sat down to discuss it in a ring.
 
They made their discourse under headings three:
First, was the cage its natural habitat?
Next, could it fly, if they should set it free?
Last, would it change, then, to a mole or cat?
Each had a theory, evolved or heard,
On the essential nature of a bird.

The argument continued many years,
Until one day a youth came strolling by,
To whom they told their questions and their fears.
"Easy to answer them," he made reply.

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