Chuu has a minion!

Joy the Birdy Love

In Thailand one can find many things, from an interesting culture to exotic foods. One can enjoy feeding monkeys on the beach, or opting for simply basking in the beautiful scenery. Elephants can be ridden and beautiful buildings are abundant. But, while all these options are available, perhaps the most interesting is the one least talked about of all.

Near one of Thailand's many beaches lies a temple, occupied by monks. The monks mainly keep to themselves.. Or, they try to, at least. They've never really been able to keep to themselves as much as they'd like, because there always seems to be a steady influx of people trying to make their way in. The people are never there for them, instead always coming for the bird they've heard so much about, the bird supposedly known to help people rise from their sorrows, their pain.

It's rumored that the bird is approximately 130 years old, but no one knows for sure; the monks don't talk to people about their bird, and all the villagers who might know the birds real age have long since passed away, for they were children themselves when the bird appeared. It's hard for most people to even trace back when the bird appeared. No one at the time had suspected the bird would be anything special or out of the ordinary, so none had bothered to write anything official about him. A few had written some passages about him in their journals, but the notes were so obscure that none could really be sure they were even about him.

Nonetheless, the legend holds that the bird is of Japanese origin.

Many, many years ago, it's said that a man and a woman came from Japan, taking their first vacation together as a married couple. They loved each other dearly, but unfortunately their marriage was to be short-lived. The man had knowingly married the woman who was sick with disease, one they could never really put a name to. Thailand was their last vacation together, and his wife had insisted that they go to the local monastery every day to pray. It was during one of the times when they all sat praying that she collapsed. With her husband by her side, she gave him her last kiss before closing her eyes to fall into a permanent slumber.

The husband was inconsolable for many months, eventually leading to years. He couldn't bear to leave Thailand, the place where his wife had left him. Instead, his family came to visit, and on one of these visits, it's said, that his niece brought him a very peculiar bird ( "a stowaway birdy for my favorite uncle!" ) that would later become the bird everyone would grow to love.

At first, the man avoided the bird at all costs, even loathed it to an extent. He wanted to go back to his lifestyle of prayer and solitude. What he didn't count on was the persistant love the bird continued to show him, even as he grumbled and complained about changing the cage or placing new food and water. He didn't pet the bird and rarely spoke to it. In fact, it almost seemed as if he were going out of his way to avoid any and all interaction with the bird. The process of loving the bird took many, many months.

Slowly, oh-so slowly, the bird began to have a part of his daily routine. After morning prayer, the man would take to feeding the bird, making small conversation. ( "Do you think we'll have nice weather today?" "Is your cage clean enough?" "Maybe I should go buy you some more food..." ) The bird was relentless, almost determined to make the man love him. When out of his cage, he'd always try to fly onto the mans shoulder, though was often placed (gently) on the ground instead. When push came to shove, the bird instead chose to waddle behind the man like a little puppy.

It would've been impossible not to love the little guy.

Long after his wife had passed, long after his family returned to his native country, the man still had the bird. It's believed the bird brought back love to the mans heart, and from then on they were inseparable till the mans passing at the age of eighty-four. The man left no notes or papers of who his things should go to, but a note was found in his dresser, as though he knew his time was coming. The note was simple, plain, and it read:

To whomever may find this note-
Please take my bird to the monastery where my wife passed. He'll bring joy to those around him as he did for me.

Also, please remember to give him a banana every Thursday. They're his favorite.

The monks weren't initially happy or receptive to the deceased mans request, accepting it only as it was a dead mans last wish. Like all things, in due time the village closest to the monastery heard of the mans request. This is where rumors began, as villagers began to come to visit the bird once they'd heard of the unusual request. The story becomes muddled and mixed, no-one really sure which parts of the story are true and wich aren't. The bird was never even given a real name, as no name was left in the note and the man never spoke of him to anyone. Most people call the bird Chuu, a playful nickname of the birds supposed heritage.

Chuu is also known to represent the sound of a kiss, which is quite fitting, as the monks and villagers soon found out that the bird loved to give 'kisses,' which were really little nips on the chin and cheek, or the neck if a person was (un)lucky enough to get a nibble! With the story of the bird becoming more and more popular, so did the tale of how the bird could bring about joy in even the most miserable of souls.

Since it's impossible to ask Chuu about his past, the villagers and monks will always question the real story of the bird. But, for now, they're content with keeping him around, enjoying the way even his caws sound like he's praising those that surround him.

Credits

Art by monsters
Profile by Retro
Thanks Kendra for letting me adopt!