Fortune telling is for the birds

Over in Asia, there are those itinerant fortune tellers who lug along a bird cage with a little green bird in it.

I hardly see this person anymore but there was a time back about 30 years ago when the chances of bumping into one of these soothsayers were great.

I recall one neighbour actually paid for the fortune teller's services. He would sit down and carefully take out a deck of well worn cards and spread them out in front of the cage, much like a seasoned croupier.

When his "see-into-the-future" apparatus are lined up, he would unhinge the cage door and out pops the little bird. To our amazement, it does not fly away but merely hop along the row of cards, staring rather intently, and finally makes up its mind and picks one up with its beak.

Then, the bird dutifully hops over to its master and lays the card in front of him. The birdman picks up the bird and puts it back into the cage.

Again, what amazed me was not so much the deed of picking up the card by the bird but it does not fly away. What a strange bird. I said that to myself many times over the years.

The fortune teller then consults his oracle which is usually a book of unknown origin and studiously decipher the "message". The client is told of his or her fortune and usually it is not a bad one.

Who wants to pay for bad news? Even the birdman knows that. If he keeps giving the "truth", very soon he will run out of customers.

This man is certainly no bird-brain guy. He knows the economics of the situation.

The memory of the bird and its master has brought a big smile back to my face. People staying in places far away from the city tend to have simple pleasures in life. This was one of them.

These days, people gamble away their future even though they know their prospects are bright. Such are the fickle-mindedness of man and his shaky fortunes.