The forest was divided into the strong and the weak—and the weak were always preyed upon by the strong. That’s why the news was so hard for everyone to believe. But the news was spreading fast! All the little chicks were chirping about it:

“The Legend of the Seven Labors” was what the chicks were all calling it—“seven” being the number of evil king-animals the creature had de-throned. Sebastian Ploomberry was one of these little chicks. He had memorized every riddle and song about the creature and hoped one day to join him. Either that, or become a hero himself and have his own adventures. But his brother didn’t believe it was really true and his sister was only learning about the legend for the first time. If he could only convince her, then maybe she would let him go. In his best storyteller’s voice, he began reciting the tale.

“He wanders around, they say . . . getting into adventures! Rescuing . . . fighting battles . . . chasing villains . . .” As he spoke, he sawed through the air with his wing like a sword, making swish sounds: “taking from the rich . . . giving to the poor . . . and protecting the weak from the powerful!”

But Edward wasn’t about to let him get away with it. He thought the story was silly.

“And who has hands, but no claws . . .” he interrupted sarcastically. “Skin, but no fur or feathers . . . And who can go invisible, weave spider webs, and fly without having any wings! Right!?”

Edward crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

“That’s right!” answered Sebastian confidently. “Except about the fur part. It does have fur, so I’ve heard—only it’s all on the top of its head, rather than its body—”

“Oh, how convenient!” harped back Edward. He was so annoying. “Of course! Its fur is all on its head! How silly of me! By my beak—the next thing you’ll be telling us is that this creature who wanders about doesn’t even have a tail!”

“Actually,” replied Sebastian, closing his eyes and pointing upward, “that is the next thing I was about to mention . . .”

Edward finally snapped. You could tell, because all his feathers began to stand up like a porcupine. He didn’t like it when Sebastian told these kinds of stories. He thought they were dangerous. They made impressionable little birds want to go on adventures—which was a very good way of getting eaten up.

“That’s it!” Edward cried out, flapping his wings. “I have heard enough of this nonsense, Sebastian! There is no such creature! And there will be no more talk of it! Or of any other silly myth you’ve made up! And that’s that!”

But Sebastian would not be silenced. It was too important to him.

“You believe me, don’t you, sis?” Sebastian asked as he hopped over and began tugging on her wing.

But Dorabella still wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know, Sebastian,” she replied. “It does sound awfully far-fetched . . .”

She believed it was a dangerous idea too.

“And no adventures either!” Edward added with a scoff. “I’m the oldest! I know best! And I say that’s the new rule! You only want to go on one, anyways, because you are young! You don’t know what it was like before we built this place! How hard life was! How much was lost!”

Sebastian hated it when people brought up his age in a bad way—as if everything he said was automatically wrong merely because of his small stature. Besides, what was wrong with adventures? They were dangerous? So what? He didn’t care. It was a lot better, in his opinion, than sitting around in a boring old nest or looking for worms all day. But Edward clearly didn’t get it.

“And you don’t know what it’s like,” Sebastian fired back angrily, “not to know what it was like! Being cooped up all day, where nothing important or exciting ever happens! And never having anything interesting to say to anyone, apart from about what others have done or what we only get to watch going on down below. You had an adventure helping find the Life Tree. Why can’t I have one of my own? And why can’t it be even grander!?”

They were both so loud that many of the other birds from the other nests were beginning to listen in, too.

“I want to have my own story,” Sebastian continued, “to be remembered for doing something!”

“We are doing something,” said Edward, grumpily. “We’re surviving! Trust me when I say that’s as good as it gets.”

“Ah, fooey!” said Sebastian again, this time with a pout. “That’s all you ever say! But you don’t know that. You don’t know anything!”

“I know that if you leave, you’ll die,” said Edward sternly. “How would you like to be remembered for that, little brother? And for your sister’s death, too, when she comes to rescue you? Or, while you’re at it, why not drag the whole nest down with you? That would be an interesting story!”

Sebastian was now fuming. If you could have seen beneath his feathers, he would have been a bright hot red color. And if he had had fists, they would have been clenched with fury.

“I never said anyone had to come after me!”

“But they will. You do know that, don’t you?”

“Well . . . that’s their problem then! Either way, it would be a lot better than staying here! I hate this place!” he growled. “And I hate both of you!”

A quiet sadness fell over all who were listening in the tree—especially Dorabella—and Sebastian immediately regretted saying that.

“Oh great . . . great . . .” he thought to himself, feeling perfectly rotten. “Now look what I’ve done! Me and my big beak!”

He crossed his wings and huffed as everyone looked at him with disappointment. Sebastian knew he had to apologize. Nevertheless, he still didn’t feel like Edward, Dorabella or anyone else understood him. And it was very frustrating. Now that he had everyone’s attention, maybe he could finally explain.

“Listen,” he continued. “I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean that. I was just angry, that’s all. I do like it here. Of course, I do! It’s my home. But all I am simply stating is that . . . well . . .” Sebastian hopped up onto the ledge and pointed to the great valley again. “Maybe there is more out there for us! You know? That . . . maybe building a nest and being safe is only a part of life—or a first step to something bigger!”

All of the birds in the tree looked at each other confused. Something more? Bigger? What in the world was Sebastian talking about?

“You mean . . . like a bigger nest?” Dorabella asked curiously.

“Maybe,” Sebastian answered. “Sure!”

It wasn’t exactly what he himself had in mind—but hey, at least it was something. At least they were thinking about it. Dorabella suddenly seemed interested. All of the birds did. They each spent a moment or two pondering it. Even Edward. Maybe Sebastian was right. Maybe there was more to life for a bird. And maybe there really was a hero creature. Sebastian smiled. Finally, he felt like he’d gotten through to them. But then something happened.

“Well, we shall know soon enough,” said Edward. “If you are right, Sebastian, then I suppose we’re in for quite the show this morning . . .”

“What do you mean?” answered Sebastian. “A show? What kind of show?” And what did it have to do with adventures or the mysterious creature? Dorabella was wondering too. Everyone was.

“What kind do you think?” answered Edward. “It’s why I’ve flown back so early. I was going to tell you right away, but you kept arguing with me. The Black Beard Gang is headed this way.”

“What? What did you just say!?” Sebastian yelled, panicking. “The Black Beards are coming? That’s what you’ve been waiting to tell us this whole time? Are you crazy!?”

The Black Beards, reader, were a gang of some of the most mean and nasty apes in the whole forest. They stole, bullied, kidnapped and sometimes even killed other animals for fun! They hadn’t been seen in the Life Tree for several months, and the birds there were just beginning to feel safe again. But now it seemed like everyone’s worst nightmares had come true. As you would expect, the whole place broke into a panic.

“Coo! Coo!” the doves sang, frantically. “The apes are back! The apes are back! What are we going to doOoOoOo!”

“Chip, chip! Chip, chip! Chip, chip!” said the squirrels.

And all the little chipmunks began hoarding as many acorns in their cheeks as they could before hiding. Sebastian was speechless.

“Quiet, please!” called out Edward, trying to calm everyone down. “Chirping about it is not going to help!”

Poor Dorabella looked more worried than anyone. She was barely able to speak without trembling.

“Are you sure you saw them?” she squeaked timidly. “Are you sure it was the Black Beard Gang?”

“Positive,” said Edward.

“How many?”

“That depends if you include the captives . . .”

“They have captives!?” Sebastian shouted.

“Three,” replied Edward, “of the Brumbledumb family.”

The Brumbledumbs were another group of apes who lived in the forest—who the Black Beard Gang often picked on for being weaker. By the sounds of it, the Black Beard Gang had just finished raiding the Brumbledumbs’ home and were now returning to the Life Tree to celebrate.

“But how many of the gang are coming?” Dorabella exclaimed.

Neither of the two brothers had ever seen their sister so distraught before.

“What does it matter how many?” replied Edward. “There’s a hero who’s going to save us all! Right, Sebastian?”

But Sebastian didn’t seem very sure anymore.

“Well, what’s wrong?” Edward teased. Then he laughed at his little brother. And it was precisely this laughing that made Sebastian do what he did next. Amidst the panic, he hopped up onto a branch overhead. And then to another one!

“Oh, Sebastian!” Dorabella cried. “Where are you going?”

He hopped up on one more, until he was at the very top of the tree! Then he took a deep breath, flapped his wings and yelled as loud as he could so all could hear:

“Yes! He WILL come! You’ll see!” All of the birds immediately stopped panicking and looked up at him. “I know you don’t believe, Edward! But you’re wrong! The mighty creature IS real! He WILL COME. He’ll come—and he’ll SAVE US ALL!”

The whole tree shook with cheers after Sebastian said this, much to Edward’s annoyance. In fact, there was so much cheering that some of the nests even came close to tumbling right off their branches. Sebastian had to be very careful getting back down and nearly started fighting with his brother again. But it all came to an end when another even louder sound was suddenly heard. A familiar sound that all animals in the tree dreaded.

“Shh! Did you hear that?” cried Dorabella.

Everyone listened.

Boom . . .

Boom . . .

Boom . . .

“Ooh Ahh . . .”

“Ooh Ahh . . .”

“Ooh Ahh . . .”

Boom!

Boom!

“Ooh Ahh!”

“Ooh Ahh!”

The Black Beard Gang had returned . . .