How Woodpecker Invented the Flute
A creative story by Lesley Parlane
It was a bright, clear, sunny day. Everyone was up
and going about their business. Birds were flying
through the forest. Squirrels were running up and
down the trees. Deer cautiously came out of the
forest to drink cool water from the pond. A perfect
day.
Woodpecker was up and about too. He was really
hungry. He wanted to eat a whole army of ants. He
was that hungry.
“Where should I look for them?”
He came close to the pond and looked around. A
turtle poked its head out of the water and said; “Are
you looking for ants?”
“Yes, I am,” replied Woodpecker.
“There are some bugs in that dead tree. Why don’t
you try over there?”
Woodpecker said thank you to the turtle and
started to make his way over to the dead tree.
He was so happy at the idea of getting a wonderful
lunch that he half flew and half hopped his way
over there.
As he approached; he could see that there were
tons of ants all over the dead tree! “Wonderful!”
thought Woodpecker, “Lunch time!”
“I had better be careful on how I approach them.”
He slowly tried to creep up on them. He got closer
and closer to the tree and with one mighty leap he
landed right in the middle of a branch and started
to peck at them furiously. He pecked so hard that
he broke through the branch with his beak. He had
completely missed the ants.
“I’ll just try again.” He took another mighty leap up
and landed a little bit further up the branch. He
tried pecking again but only succeeded in making
another hole in the branch. He was starting to get
frustrated as he could see that the ants had
scattered further up the branch.
Woodpecker wasn’t going to give up that easily, so
he tried again for a third time. He took another
mighty leap & landed a bit further up branch. Once
again he pecked furiously and this time his beak got
stuck in the branch! Woodpecker struggled to free
his beak from the third hole he had accidently
created. He could hear the ants laughing at him.
Woodpecker was getting really frustrated and he
was still really hungry. He decided to give it one
more try before looking elsewhere for food. He took
a big breathe in and took a mighty leap into the air
and landed a bit further up the branch. He pecked
with all his might and broke another hole into the
branch.
A sudden noise in the bushes caught Woodpecker’s
attention. He listened carefully and he knew that a
two legged was coming towards the clearing. Only
two legged make so much noise while walking
around the forest!
At that moment the wind started to pick up and
strange sound was heard. A strange, whispering,
whistling sound. Almost like a melody. It was a new
noise that had never been heard before in the
forest.
“How strange where was it coming from?”
Woodpecker listened carefully and slowly realized
that the new noise was coming from the branch
that he was sitting on! The wind seemed to enter
the branch and it was like it was trying to sing!
“Wow! What a wonderful discovery I made!”
The two legged was getting closer and Woodpecker
had to decide if he was going to stay or go.
“I don’t want to leave my new discovery. I don’t
want to lose my lunch either! I know, I’ll hide up
here in this nearby tree and hope that the two
legged keeps going through the forest.”
The wind started blowing again and more noises
were coming out of the ant branch. It didn’t sound
too bad.
“I hope the two legged doesn’t hear it.”
The two legged came into the clearing and looked
around. The wind started blowing again and the
two legged heard it. They slowly started looking
around for the source of the new sound.
Woodpecker could only watch in silence as the Two
Legged quickly found the ant branch and carefully
broke it off the dead tree. They examined it
carefully and Woodpecker could see that a light had
come into their eyes. The Two Legged was thinking
that they had discovered something that was new,
exciting and magical! They could show this new
discovery off to everyone at home! Everyone would
be very impressed.
Woodpecker watched in dismay and frustration as
he could hear the Two Legged and their thoughts.
“Ha! I invented that “magical branch!” I put all
those holes into the branch. I worked hard on that. I
made that, not him!”
Woodpecker watched sadly as the Two Legged left
with the “magical ant branch”. Woodpecker
watched the Two Legged as they left the area. The
sun had shifted and would be quickly going down
soon. Woodpecker had better get moving if he
wanted to get some more food before going to
sleep for night. Woodpecker started to laugh to
himself as he prepared to leave.
“Oh well, I guess he can have it….and all the ants
too!”
Now, you know the real story of why Woodpecker
pecks so furiously at branches. It’s not only because
he’s looking for food; but he’s remembering the
lost, “magical ant branch”!
© Lesley Palane
Story Origin
This story was created in May 2013 during a
women’s retreat near Ottawa. It was a part of a
creative writing session where the participants had
to come up with a story in less than 15 mines.
Everyone was given some suggestions to help them
get started and I was given a woodpecker and a
branch. I have now taken this story and told it to
various Ottawa audience’s as a part of my
storytelling repertoire. It is my first story that I’ve
told to audiences as a new Storyteller and it’s one
that I’m proud of and really like.