The cuckoo in the woods
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By Kim Song-rhei
It is said that music is a good complement to a party. Likewise, when one strolls along a forest path, the singing of a cuckoo in the woods reaches one’s ears merrily. Thus, I think the bird harmonizes the woods.
The other day when I took a morning walk up a hill, I enjoyed the essence of the green trees swaying in the breeze and the aroma of sun-kissed seasonal flowers. In the meantime, I heard the cuckoo singing on the top of a tall tree.
The moment I heard the notes, I felt an impulse to liken the sound to a song in soprano, and the bird to a woman walking with a broad grin on her happy face.
In other words, the woods nestled in the bosom of late spring seem to be brimming with animation vitalized by the bird singing with a light heart; besides, the bird seems to make the fresh green of spring become deeper and deeper. I thought the bird was a good singer in addition to being a shining light of the woods.
Metaphorically speaking, I think the relation between the birds and the woods is as much the same as “love and justice are complements to each other.” Accordingly, “the birds are to the woods what justice is to love.”
Simply put, just as trees alone do not compose a wood, so birds are indispensible to make the woods more beautiful.
In fact, we can find many kinds of trees, weeds, moss and rocks in every shape and form in the woods, not to mention the birds. All of these are in tune with one another. Plant life such as weeds and moss, which we regard as having little value, are more beautiful than trees.
These seemingly trivial phenomena, in fact, create details in the realm of nature just as rain and wind are natural agents that create scenic beauty.
Then, why did the cuckoo, to say nothing of her charming song, give me a favorable impression? I, as a man who likes making observations of birds, think well of the cuckoo in that she is very faithful to her young, though she is unable to build a love nest by its own efforts.
In fact, the bird is too wise to build a nest. It lays one or two eggs on a nest built with great effort and brooded by other species of birds. It seems to be a shrewd trick, but I think it is an act to keep the balance of nature in compliance with the wise providence of heaven.
Perhaps it is no more than a guess but I feel confident that the bird, unlike other species of birds, has not only far better handling at prenatal culture, but very clever at taking care of her young.
After laying eggs on a nest attended by other birds, the bird begins to prenatal care of an unborn child, letting embryos in the egg hear of her notes ― cuckoo, cuckoo…, off and on in the vicinity of the nest.
I think it is a kind of an act of maternal affection, an act to ease her embryo’s mind nestled in the bosom of another species of mother bird. Is that all? Her parents by blood directly take care of her young when the young leaves her foster parents.
From an inductive reasoning point of view, the cuckoo’s notes is the sound letting us know the fact that both fetal and infancy education are important in terms of forming character.
In fact, we can lean everything from nature. In this respect, the cuckoo, I think, is a teacher who allows us to understand how the woods play an important role in the natural world.
The writer lives in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. His email address is kwanak11@hanmail.net.