Eagle and the Tipping Tree

A fable about fairness, the folly of one-bird rule, and why justice must serve all. When Eagle stacks the court with parroting pals, it’s up to young Pip, Whimsy, and Maple to restore the balance beneath the boughs.

By Ross Boulton

In a glen where the mushrooms wore spectacles bright,

And beetles read poetry deep into night,

The Treehouse of Justice stood balanced and wide,

With branches of fairness on every side.

But whoosh! came a wind and a thunderous flap—

Eagle the Loud in his red-collared cap.

“I’m the best in the forest!” he cried with great flair.“

Just ask me, I’ll tell you—I’m perfectly fair!”

“This tree leans too left! This court’s out of whack!

I’ll stack it with judges who’ve got my back.

If rulings don’t match what I want them to say,

Then something is wrong—I must get my way!”

So Eagle chose owls who fluffed up their chest,

And nodded and chirped, “Yes, Eagle knows best!”

They echoed his speeches and laughed at his jokes,

While justice got tangled in ribbons and oaks.

🦉Judge Talon, once steady, now blinked and looked small.

He dropped his own gavel—it bounced down the hall.

Pip tugged at his robe with a frown on her face,

“Is justice still justice when it’s just a race?”

🦉Then up stood young Pip, with her feathers held tight.

She cleared her small throat and declared,

“This ain’t right.A court must be fair—not a one-bird parade.

The law isn’t something that Eagle just made!”

🪶Jay-Dee the Parrot-Crow flapped with a grin:

“Eagle is justice! Or… is it begin?

He told me to say… um… ‘Laws are a snack?’

Wait—was it ‘no turtles can dance on their back?’”

⚖️Soon every dispute from the stream to the tree

Was judged by the voice that squawked loudest—with glee.

“The river is mine!” Eagle ruled with a shout.

“And that bush and that boulder—and everything out!”

🐿️Then Whimsy the Squirrel, with a nut in her paw,

Scratched down her notes and dropped her jaw.

“You won’t believe THIS!” she squeaked in her tree.

“The court’s gone bananas—like legally!”

“They ruled that all raccoons must juggle on skates!

And porcupines now must debate on first dates!

This isn’t a court—it’s a comedy show!

It’s justice on stilts in a tap-dancing bow!”

🍁Maple the Goose, with her beak full of facts,

Flapped in with a scroll and a law book of acts.“

This isn’t how justice should fly, roll, or land—

You can’t just go ruling with one flappy hand!”

🦢And Willow the Swan, with a voice soft and slow,

Said, “Justice should glide, not tiptoe or blow.

Let courts be like lakes—still, deep, and wide.

Not stirred by one bird with a feathery pride.”

🌟 The Moral

"The court’s gone bananas!” the forest folks said,

"When the law only listens to one feathery head!”

So children and creatures, both feathered and furred,

Remember—true justice can’t come from one bird.

A court must be steady, not tilted or loud—

Not just for the strong, or the bold, or the proud.

Let Treehouses stand with a balance that's true—

Because fairness should fly for me and for you.