Everyone across the land would smile and beam when they heard him speak. He could say "no" when most folk would have said "yes." He would not just play with anyone - and he would tell them the reasons. Vook was the apple of his Papa B.'s eye. Papa B. would send him out into the world and ask him what he saw. And Vook, proud and pleased, would come back and tell him all about it.
But Vook was a very stubborn boy and would not change his mind once it was set. If people asked him, he would sometimes say: "I don't wanna" and hold his breath. Papa B. told him his stubborn head would one day get into trouble, but Vook would not listen.
Now one day, Vook, while traveling far and wide, came across a Great Big Whale. The Whale was very large and, above the sea, the skies were filled with little bluebirds tweeting and chirping above the waters where the Whale would swim. Sometimes the birds would lift the Great Big Whale out of the water by little strings held in their beaks. When that happened, you knew something very important was happening.Vook stopped to listen to the birds. They chirped and tweeted and, all of a sudden, Vook thought he heard them tweet his name! He thought they were saying things about him. He thought they were laughing at him and his shiny suit and white teeth. Vook turned his boat around and ran back home.
When he arrived back home, he called all the whale hunters of the land to seek out the Great Big Whale. And he summoned the hunters to take aim at the birds. He said this Great Big Whale and some of its many birds were "unpleasant" and he decided to take out the bad ones.
The birds, once they heard, began to follow Vook around. They asked him what he was doing. They asked why he hated them so. They wanted him to answer. But Vook said, "I don't wanna," and did not tell. He would not talk with any of the birds.
When Papa B. heard what little Vook was doing, he called him over. "What are you doing to these birds?" he asked. "These birds seem little but they are very powerful, and they are very loud, and there are too many of them."
"I will stop them," Vook blustered. "They are mean to me."
Vook did not know that the birds were very friendly with the world's gentle winds. He did not know that their voices carried from one side of the earth to the other upon the winds, and that once they began to chirp, no one could silence them for long.
But Papa B. wanted the Great Big Whale to be on his side. He did not want little Vook to bother it and poke it with sticks. "You may go after the birds and whale," he said, "but if you anger the Great Big Whale, I will let it swallow you up."
And Vook did not wanna. He stood by the sea in his shiny suit, holding Papa B.'s suit of armor, and shook his little fist at the sea and the birds and the Great Big Whale. But he was very, very quiet. He did not say a word.
And the birds tweeted and chirped and flew away, leaving only the sound of their voices behind.
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Illustration: From http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/07/18/serbia-disgruntled-community-vs-disgruntled-politician-on-twitter