Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there was a little boy named Derek. Derek lived with his mother in a small cottage at the edge of the deep woods.

One day, Derek decided to play outside for a while. He got his magic stick, just in case. You knew that Derek had a magic stick, didn't you?

Anyway, Derek took his magic stick outside. Today, he decided that he wanted to be a "destruction worker" so his magic stick became a bulldozer and Derek built a whole city in the front yard.

He had just finished building the city and was looking at his handiwork when he heard a bird singing.

He looked around and saw a pretty red bird that Granddaddy had said was an "cardinal". It was singing a song that sounded something like "Two-lip! Two-lip." Then he noticed another bird that was singing a song that sounded something like "Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!" over and over real fast, he didn't know what kind of bird it was. Then he heard another bird singing, "Pretty bird, pretty bird." He didn't know what that one was either. Then he heard another bird that he had been told was a mocking bird. It was singing all kind of songs, one right after another. Derek listened for a while, then went back in his house to find Granddaddy.

"Granddaddy, I was outside and there were a lot of birds out there. Each one was singing a different song. But there was a mocking bird out there and he was singing a lot of different songs. Why does the mocking bird sing so many different songs, Granddaddy?"

Granddaddy said, "Sit down and I'll tell you about it."

Derek smiled, he knew that Granddaddy was about to tell him a story. Ever since he had wished that Granddaddy, who was part Indian, had a good imagination like him, Granddaddy had come up with a lot of stories for him. Derek liked stories.

"It all started a long time ago," Granddaddy began. "The Great Spirit had made the world and everything in it. But none of the birds had songs, so everything was very quiet. The Great Spirit thought that it would be nice if there was some music in the world. So early one morning he called all of the birds to his lodge and had them line up. But mocking bird was lazy and liked to sleep late, so he wasn't in the line. As each bird came forward, the Great Spirit gave it a song to sing, a different song for each bird. Some of the birds, like the crows had been slow and were at the back of the line, so they got the left over songs that weren't very pretty, just a 'Caw! Caw!', but still, it was their own song.

"Finally, after the Great Spirit had given out all of the songs, mocking bird woke up. Right off, he noticed wren singing his song. 'Wren, where did you get that song?' mocking bird asked.

"Wren told him, 'The Great Spirit gave it to me. He said that I am the only bird that can sing this song.'

"Mocking bird thought that is was a pretty cool song that Wren had. He was also a little jealous, why would the Great Spirit pick Wren to give a song to? Mocking bird flew to another tree and found cardinal singing his song.

"'Cardinal, where did you get that song?' Mocking bird asked."

"'The Great Spirit gave it to me. He gave all of the birds each their own song,' Cardinal told him.

"'I wish that I had a song,' Mocking bird said.

"'Why don't you go see the Great Spirit, maybe he will give you a song, too.'

"Mocking bird thought that this was a good idea, so he flew over the Great Spirit's big lodge. Of course, the Great Spirit knows everything, so he knew that Mocking bird was coming and was waiting for him.

"'Well, Mocking bird, I see that you finally decided to wake up,' the Great Spirit said.

"'Yes,' Mocking bird said. 'Will you give me a song, too, Great Spirit?' Mocking bird asked.

"The Great Spirit looked at Mocking Bird and said, 'Mocking bird, you are lazy. While I was giving all of the birds songs, you were sleeping. You always sleep much later than the other birds. And you always go to sleep while the other birds are still up and working. I gave the other birds songs so that I could have music, but I don't think that you deserve a song.' The Great Spirit looked very serious.

"Mocking bird was very sad to hear this, but he said, 'Great Spirit, I can change, really I can.'

"The Great Spirit said, 'Mocking bird, if you can prove to me that you have really changed, I will see what I can do for you, but you must prove that you have really changed.'

"That afternoon, instead of going to sleep like he normally did, Mocking bird kept busy looking for food for his family and working on his nest. Then when then other birds went to sleep, Mocking bird flew over to a tree in front of the Great Spirit's big lodge and sat on a limb. Just to prove that he was not sleeping, he hopped around a lot. Finally, long after the other birds were asleep, he flew home and went to sleep.

"The next morning, he was up long before the other birds and flew over to the same tree in front of the Great Spirit's lodge.

He stayed there until the other birds got up, then he went about his business. He did this every day for a whole year. Then one day the Great Spirit called him over.

"'Mocking bird, you do appear to have changed your nature. I can not give you your own song like I did with the other birds, because I have given away all of the songs. But what I can do is this. Go and listen carefully to the other birds and learn each of their songs. You must not just sing any one bird's song, but you may sing a medley of many songs, and you will be the only bird that can do this. You may do this as long as you do not become lazy again,' the Great Spirit told Mocking bird.

"So Mocking bird did as he was told, he learned the songs of the wren, the titmouse, the sparrow and the oriole and all of the others. When he had learned many songs, he sang a great medley of songs. This made him so happy that he sang long into the night after all of the other birds were asleep. Then he was up early the next morning long before any of the other birds were awake and was singing his medley of songs again. The Great Spirit saw and heard this and was pleased.

"And so mocking bird does this to this very day. Sometimes, you can even hear him singing all night long.

Derek thought for a minute then said, "Granddaddy, you said that the Great Spirit made the world and everything in it. But some of my friends said that God made the world and everything in it. What is right, Granddaddy?"

Derek's grand daddy smiled at him. "Both are right, Derek. Some people call the Supreme Being, God, others call Him Allah. Still others call Him Jehovah, or Gott, or Dios. Some people call him Great Spirit or any of a thousand other names. Some think of Him as their Father, others think of Him as their Mother or as their Father/Mother. It is all the same being, and all are right. It is all just how different people think of the Creator that is different.

Derek thanked his grand daddy and went back outside to listen to the mocking bird some more.

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