The King of Birds and Noah's Ark

This story is a like a make believe prelude to the story of Noah's Ark.
The Cardinal, the Golden Oriole, the Cockatoo and the Toucan are four great friends. One day, all four of them fly as fast as they can, to pass a message to the King of Birds, the White Bellied Sea Eagle. Once they get there, the Cardinal calls out,

"Your Majesty, we have an urgent message for you. It is from the tortoise"
"Is it the 100 year old tortoise?" asks the King
"Yes, your Majesty. The 100 Yr Old Torotise asks us to tell you that a great flood is coming, and that it will last 40 days and 40 nights and will destroy everything!"
"Ah, the 100 Yr Old Tortoise is very wise. If he says something, it must be true"
"What do we do, your Majesty?" asked the Cockatoo.
"Let me think. Yes... I know. I will send a message to Noah. He is a friend of animals and he will help protect us."

So the King of Birds sent a small messenger bird, the turtle dove, to pass the message to Noah. Noah listened carefully. "So the 100 Yr old Tortoise passed this message to the King of Birds who has passed this message to me? I see. Let me consult with GOD as well."

Noah speaks to God and confirms that yes indeed, a great flood is coming. Noah tell the turtle dove to take back a message to the King of Birds.
" I will build an ark, and offer protection to every species of animals, two of each kind in this ark. The ark will be ready in 5 months time. Please alert all the birds, the fish and the animals about this."
The turtle dove flew back to the King of Birds and relayed the message. The King turned to the four friends. You have brought dire news, but important news. Now you must do this. Inform the 100 yr old Tortoise of the plan and see that the message gets to all the sea and land creatures. You yourselves must pass the message to all the birds in the world. You must hurry."

"Yes your majesty." said the four birds and they flew away to the 100 year old tortoise. The Wise Tortoise nodded his head and then called on all the fish of the ocean. He passed them the message and sent them to all the different parts of the world to inform the land animals of the plan. The four friends passed the message to all the other birds of the world, each went to one corner of the world to pass his message.
The rains started coming. They came and came, getting more and more heavy, until the day of the great storm! The assigned animals all went into the ark, two by two, and as the door of the ark closed, the storm came down in great sheets,with thunder and lightning like never seen before! It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, as predicted, and then finally ebbed away.
When the ark opened, it was on top of the tallest mountain in the world! It floated on the flood waters until it reached land, and then the animals finally trooped out.
It was a new world that awaited them. All the evil of the past has been washed out. They stepped out tentatively onto this new fresh earth and life began, again.

Krishna and Twinkly Star

One evening, Krishna was lying down on the grass, counting stars in the night sky. Then he noticed a little twinkly star who was twinkling more than ever. Mesmerized, he watched the tiny star, when suddenly, he felt pearly tear drops fall on him straight from the star!

Concerned, Krishna flew up to the star and asked, "What happened little star? Why are you so sad?"
The star answered, "Dear Krishna - I think of the great and beautiful Sun as my father. I so want to tell him that I love him, that I love my daddy. But I can't go near him. He is so big, and hot and bright, I shall shrivel up if I go near him. So I am loving him from here, and feeling sad that I can't tell him I love him."

"Oh dear. Don't worry little star. I will take your message for you!" and he asked the star to write a card for the sun. The star brightened up immediately, and said, "Oh will you please?"
She wrote a beautiful card for the sun, with the words
"Dear Daddy, I love you very much!" and signed off as Your daughter, Twinkly Star.

Krishna took the card and started flying towards the Sun, who was burning brightly in the other hemisphere. As he got nearer, he started feeling warmer and warmer. Finally, he was quite close to the sun, but he couldn't get any closer as it was just much too hot and bright. Krishna stopped and thought for a while, and then he reached out and pulled a dark cloud towards him. He then positioned the cloud between himself and the Sun, covering the sun in the process. Then he reached out into the cloud, to pass the Sun the card from Twinkly Star. "Oh great Sun, a star thinks of you as father and sends this message"

The sun gladly received the card and was very touched by the sweet card and the brave and resourceful messenger. He boomed, "Thank you Krishna! you have truly made my day. Please send my love to Twinkly star, and tell her this is for her!"
Saying so, he encouraged the dark cloud before him to spill gentle rain drops to earth even as he shone as brightly as he could. A beautiful rainbow formed that covered both hemispheres. Twinkly star saw the rainbow and her heart lightened as she understood that Krishna had delivered her card. She was very happy now.

Krishna slid on the rainbow all the way back to his own hemisphere and down to the pastures where he had been resting, landing softly on the grass near the cows and calfs grazing. It was just dawning and Krishna could see that it was going to be a beautiful day.