There she was, laying on the ground, and as she lay, she slowly looked down upon her very human hands, her human feet, her human body. Wings, feathers, magpie-eyes and beak no more. Her wings became arms; her feathers became long dark black hair, reaching her waist; her dark magpie-eyes became round and deep eyes with dark-black pupils; and her beak became her small mouth with blood-red lips. 

She slowly lifted her head, with a confused and scared face, looking upon the old man. The old man offered her a hand to stand up. As the now girl, a human, she accepted the offer and reached her right hand to him, slowly starting to stand up; with her left hand which had injured wrist from the fall, and her silky smooth hair, covering her now unfeathered revealed body.

As he saw in shock her revealed body, he carefully draped his thin, faded robe around her, the soft cotton settling over her shoulders. She noticed that it wasn’t the fancy wear that the girl or some other folks wore, not as colourful, definitely not silk, but even in the early spring season it kept her body covered from the still cold air.  

As she slowly stood up, she started losing her balance. Standing up and walking as a human was new, after all, for someone once used to short, thin magpie legs…

“Woah, easy there little one. A bird that’s caged forgets how wide the sky is. But a bird that is free? She must first learn how to land - only than can she start exploring the world. Don’t you worry, I’ll explain everything later, you can come to my home, and get some rest.”

The now-girl didn’t reply, as if just standing there, still in shock and fear. 

“Believe me, you do not have to fear me. I’m but an old man with no ill intentions. I can offer you a roof over your head and a warm bed to sleep the night in. There, my home.” and he pointed at the end of the village to a small cottage. 

The girl, maybe not understanding every word that he muttered, but understanding from his mannerisms, that he is not to be feared, for he doesn’t seem to possess any threat, especially due to his older age. After all, once the angered girl in the fancy wear headed for the village, he stayed, and once the magpie fell from the branch, he still stayed. Although the magpie was suspicious of him, she did not fear him, nay, she was intrigued by him. He had to know the how, he had to know at least something! In her confused and scared mind, she rationally thought about the situation, and agreed, nodding to whatever he was saying. After all, while yes she was shocked and scared of the situation, a second wave of emotion swiftly came as she looked down upon her new human body, standing there - an enormous and unimaginable joy and sense of euphoria. 

After she nodded, looked at her body and happily smiled, she proudly let her head face the village, and took a step, as if starting a proud march. However, understandably, she was not ready for her yet weak sense of balance, and as she quickly swayed her leg forwards, her body gave in, and wobbled from side to side. 

“Woah woah, easy there, easy. I see, you cannot walk just yet. Here, let me give you some helpful hands.” and he reached his two hands to her, trying to rebalance her and give her a sense of straight position. However, since she only had one hand available, her left hand with her broken wrist crouching to her chest, he used his right hand to reach for her elbow, while his left hand reached her for palm. 

“There you go. Now slowly, one leg forwards, and settled. Second leg forwards, and settled. There you go, exactly. And slowly repeat.” 

Slowly but surely, she understood the human walk. Walking with alternating her legs was not the problem, quite the opposite, as it was a typical walk known to magpies also. It was the lack of her magpie tail that helped her balance out her long-reaching walk, together with her new senses of limbs, that were the problems. But as human walk was not as different from magpie walk, other than the lack of tail, she slowly understood the assignment and continued the walk, without the support of the old man. 

Upon the trip to the village from the hill where the pagoda tree grew, it was already getting darker. It was a nice, a quite quiet night; and she enjoyed every second of it: She felt deep happiness about this miracle, as if she could breather freely for the first time in her life. As if her dark, lonely and boring life became something more: the darkness cast away with a light for new hope, the loneliness mattered no more, and her boring life got a new flavour to explore new adventures. The winter-ending, cold but slowly warming air, swayed her beautiful long hair, and touched her silky smooth skin. She could do nothing more than giggle and smile, while the old man just showed her the path. She could not care about what had happened, why it happened and how it happened. The old man could have become her doom and she would still not care. She could pass away by tomorrow and she still would not care - for in that very moment, just for a little bit and for the first time in her life, she felt free. She felt as herself. 

As they reached the now quiet street of his home, she saw across the street - a colourful gate, and behind it a taller building. A quite beautiful building. She could not just let it pass, as she was in such an awe that she had to stop her walk, and look at it with her whole sight. The old man, noticing her attention swaying on the building, stopped. 

“Oh, see something?” he asked to get her notice. 

She could not say anything other than just nod to the building. 

“Oh that. Well yes, it’s a temple. I used to be a member… but… not anymore.”

Again, she maybe didn’t understand all of the words and the precise meaning of them, but through his mannerisms, and through the knowledge that she gathered from watching the every-day life of humans as a magpie, she understood that it was some building, dearly special to him. She looked at him, and understanding his sadness, she turned her head to the side, as if asking him ‘Why not anymore?’

He looked at her, looked at the building, and just shook his head in disagreement. 

“It’s late. We should just go to sleep.”

And as such, she understood the sensitivity of the question, of the building, and just followed him to his home, which stood near the temple. 

As he opened the door and they reached into the cottage, small and old, but warm, welcoming and cosy; she just looked around the room and was once again in awe. After all, she was never inside a human dwelling, she never really knew their ways of living and home culture. It was only one room, with a keng bed, some wooden low-table beside the bed, and a stone stove inside of which was a fireplace and a pot on top. In the corner of the room, there he kept any of his stuff that he didn't use at the moment - some were books, some were wooden furniture, and some were more dusty than others.

The old man remembered that he had a spare silk robe, and one spare wooden keng bed, exactly in the pile of the corner. 

“Here, that’ll keep you covered. I bet that you are tired and cold; now, go sleep little one…”

The old man reached the robe to her, and she worryless droped the old robe on the ground, the old man quickly turning his back in shock. Understandably, she didn't understand human manners just yet, so she didn’t understand the old man’s fluster. She clumsily tried to wear the silk robe, but before the old man could have reached to help her, her head and arms poped from the robe’s openings. The girl, standing there in the room, now in her new robe, slowly started to close her tiresome eyes. The old man waved his hand to get her attention and pointed at the keng bed: “T-there, you can lay and sleep.” he nervously said, having a young adult in his cottage; and he laid on his own keng bed to show her how.

The girl thereafter laid on her bed, and now with a peace of mind, with her new warm clothes, she fell asleep to the joy of her new beginning.