The bird proudly willing to burn,
So that he may live again,
Chooses the flames of fires
That burn the aged Phoenix
The nature stands still
Till a new young bird starts again,
and begins the legend of the Phoenix.
– Claudian (Roman author)
One day in the ancient times, the sun looked down and saw a large bird with bright red and dazzling gold feathers. The sun god blessed him, “Glorious Phoenix, you shall be my bird and live forever!”
The Phoenix was overjoyed to hear these words and sang, “I shall sing my songs for you alone!” But living forever didn’t make him happy for long. Men, women, and children were always chasing him, wanting some of those beautiful, shiny feathers for themselves.
Tired, the phoenix flew off toward the east, where the sun rises in the morning.
The Phoenix flew for a long time, and then came to a far away, hidden desert where no humans lived. Here, flying freely he would sing the songs of praise to the sun alone.
Five centuries passed. The Phoenix was still alive, but it had grown old. It couldn’t soar so high in the sky, nor fly as fast or as far as it was young. It wasn’t as strong.
The Phoenix sang, “Sun, glorious sun, make me young and strong again!”
The sun didn’t answer. When the sun still didn’t answer, the Phoenix decided to return to the place of its origin.
The journey was long, and because the Phoenix was old and weak, it had to rest along the way. Each time it landed, it collected pieces of cinnamon bark and all kinds of fragrant leaves.
Phoenix on the top of the tree
When at last the bird returned to its home, it landed on a tall palm tree. Right at the top of the tree, the Phoenix built a nest with the cinnamon bark and lined it with the fragrant leaves. Then the Phoenix collected myrrh, a sharp-scented gum and made an egg from it. It carried the egg back to the nest.
The Phoenix sat down in its nest, and once again, sang, “Sun, glorious sun, make me young and strong again!”
This time the sun heard the song. It shone down on the mountainside with all its strength. Everyone, every animal, reptile, bird hid from the sun’s fierce rays — in caves and holes, under shady rocks and trees.
Only the Phoenix sat upon its nest at the top of the tallest palm tree on the highest mountain and let the suns rays beat down upon it beautiful, shiny feathers. Suddenly there was a flash of light, flames leaped out of the nest, and the Phoenix became a big round ball of fire.
After a while the flames died down. Strangely, the nest and the tree remained unaffected by the fire! But the Phoenix disappeared. Only a heap of silvery-gray ash remained in the nest. Suddenly, the ash began to tremble and slowly heaved itself upward. Rose a young Phoenix. It was small and, like new born, looked sort of crumpled. But stretching its neck it lifted and flapped its wings. Moment by moment it grew, until it was the same size as the old Phoenix. It looked around, and hollowed the egg made of myrrh. Placing the ashes inside it finally closed the egg. He resumes his Sun song.
As the song ended the climate changed. The clouds emerged, wind began to blow and all the living creatures emerged out of their hiding places.
The Phoenix, with the egg in its claws, flew up and away. At the same time, birds of all shapes and sizes rose up from the earth and flew behind the Phoenix. They sang, “You are the greatest of birds! You are our king!”
The birds flew with the Phoenix to the temple of the sun at Heliopolis. The Phoenix placed the egg with the ashes inside on the sun’s altar.
Every 500 years…
And while the other birds watched, it flew off toward the faraway desert. The legend is that the even today the Phoenix lives there. Every five hundred years, when it begins to feel weak and old, it flies west to the same mountain. It again builds a nest atop the palm tree and the sun again burns it to ashes…
And from these ashes rises another Phoenix.
This legend has been around for centuries with some variations.
Read the rest here: The Legend of Phoenix
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