Parable of the hawk and the squirrel

Parable of the hawk and the squirrel

A young squirrel, having come of age, needed to find a new territory to build his drey and after much travel, came across a massive oak dominating the landscape. ‘This will be my new home,’ he thought, and quickly started to collect twigs and leaves to build it.

Many hours into the process, a large hawk swooped into the upper branches of the oak. Squirrel froze instinctively, realizing suddenly why this tree had not been occupied by other squirrels.

After observing the motionless squirrel for a time, Hawk said, “Silly squirrel, do you think I do not see you?”

Fearing a trick, the squirrel did not reply.

Hawk continued, “I am a talented hunter. Do not be afraid as I do not need your meat. You may nest in my tree and I will leave you be.”

Squirrel, skittish as their kind are, did not trust Hawk, but having invested so much in his new home, decided to continue to build it, though keep his guard up. On his first night, he stayed awake, ready to flee at the slightest disturbance. But nothing happened. The second night, sleep overtook him. And still, he woke up unscathed.

Soon, Hawk and Squirrel became cordial neighbors. Indeed, Squirrel prospered in this relationship as Hawk often left bones and grizzle, which supplemented Squirrel’s diet nicely. And with Hawk as sentinel, few other squirrels ventured under his oak to sample its excellent acorns (or disturb his many caches of nuts). ‘Yes,’ Squirrel reflected, ‘This is a good life.’ Though, now and again, he would wonder what Hawk gets from their association.

Then, one day, Hawk returned to the tree with an injured wing, and barely managed to get back to his nest.

Squirrel felt bad, but didn’t know how he could help. ‘Can I bring Hawk food? Water?’ Squirrel wondered, but quickly got distracted by the sound of falling acorns, reminding him of the many nuts he still needed to collect before winter arrived.

However, Squirrel did not wonder long.

In a few nights, Hawk fluttered down slowly, silently, branch by branch, and positioned himself outside the entrance to Squirrel’s drey. As Squirrel exited for his early morning gathering run, Hawk pounced, seizing Squirrel by his neck, and squeezed.

Choking, Squirrel squeaked out, “Wh-why? I thought we were neighbors.”

“We are,” replied Hawk. “And that is why I spared you. So that if ever the need arose when I couldn’t hunt, you’d be there for me.”

Hawk, without remorse, ate Squirrel. And over time, his wound healed and he hunted far across the wood again.

———————————————————-

We are the squirrel – thinking we are safe in our technology and power – when were are not.

The Hawk is just obvious – the hawk is all the beliefs and technology we have that make us safe and secure and are actually going to kill us – in fact, are killing us, whether it be our agricultural methods, or GHG emissions, or toxic chemicals reducing our fertility, or social media algorithms rewiring the brains of our kids… there are so many hawks today that without us running away from our ‘safe nest’ we too will be eaton.

Perhaps its time to take the advice from “Braiding Sweetgrass” by not seeing her tales as “a nice stories from a stone age culture” but as a realistic view of reality that we have lost. Perhaps our Indigenous cultures have much to teach us.

“We send gratitude to the rising sun for the chance to learn every day, to start anew. We receive the lesson that Mother Earth is our wisest teacher. We come to explore the deepest thoughts of the Creator as we explore the land and are one with the land and give thanks for how it nurtures us.”