The Story of the Easter Robin, by Dandi Daley Mackall, is a story about a little girl Tressa who is visiting her Grandma. As the twosome decorate eggs a Robin's egg blue, they watch the drama unfold outside the kitchen window. A robin has built a nest which has one perfectly shaped egg sitting in it. Tressa is concerned because she sees raccoon tracks nearby and a blue jay eyeing the nest. "Gran, how are we going to keep the egg safe" she asks. Gran answers: "We'll have to leave that one to the Creator."
In the meantime, Gran tells Tressa an old Pennsylvania Dutch tale about how the robin got its red breast. A brown robin was flying above Jerusalem the day that Jesus was crucified. As Jesus struggled to carry the cross on his back, and as the crown of thorns dug into his head, the robin pulled out one of the longest thorns to spare Jesus some pain; as he did so, a drop of Jesus' blood landed on the robin's breast. Forever after, robins were red-breasted.
The next day, the eggs in the nest (more had joined the original egg) hatched and healthy baby robins appeared. Tressa knew who to thank for keeping the baby birds safe.
Image courtesy http://1.bp.blogspot.com.
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