Poet and translator Coleman Barks has noted that mystical traditions love birds and their singing: "Birds represent our longings for purity and freedom and they carry messages of ineffable joy." Rumi, the great Sufi poet and seer, shares his perspective:

Birdsong brings relief
to my longing.

I am just as ecstatic as they are
but with nothing to say!

Please, universal soul, practice
some song, or something, through me!

The freedom and yearning of the soul that Barks and Rumi identify are universal feelings which have been explored in religions, poetry, novels, and parables. Both of these spiritual themes are present in Little Bird, a marvelous and captivating story by Germano Zullo. It is mainly a visual parable told through the beguiling pictures of Albertine who won the 2011 Prix Sorcieres for Illustration (the French equivalent of the Caldecott Award). The thought-piece quotation at the front of the book is from e.e. Cummings:

"may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living."

A man drives a truck through a vast expanse of desert with nothing but sand and sun to keep him company. "Some days are different," we learn. At the edge of a cliff, the man opens the back door of the truck and a flock of birds fly out of what had been their prison.

However, one timid little bird remains behind and doesn’t fly away. Some days have "something a little more. . . . just a small thing." The lonely man and the little bird forge a connection out of their close encounter. He shares his sandwich with the little one. Knowing that his friend should join the other birds, he flaps his arms to imitate flight. The bird finally takes the man's wise advice and flies off to join the flock. The man leaves in his truck to return to where he came from. But not before experiencing the freedom and the singing of his soul.

The moral of the story is spelled out for us:

"There are no greater treasures than the little things.
One is enough to enrich the moment.
Just one is enough to change the world."