After a forest fire in YellowstoneNational Park,
forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage.
One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on
the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he
knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks
scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware
of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and
had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke
would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her
babies. Then the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body,
the mother had remained steadfast... because she had been willing to die, so
those under the cover of her wings would live.
