Although her husband passed away seven years ago, Margret continued to wear her wedding ring. “With Ring you are safer as a woman, especially when traveling.”
Therefore, Margret’s daughter Heike was extremely astonished when, like every week, she stopped by her mother’s house and discovered that the wedding ring was missing from her hand. At first Heike did not say anything, but her curiosity got bigger and bigger. Was there a new man in the mother’s life?
Finally, she could not stand it any longer. “Mom, where do you have your ring?”
Margret smiled a little sheepishly, and Heike was ready for anything – but not for what she got to hear.
“I put it on the windowsill because I had to wash. Unfortunately, the window was open. Suddenly, I saw a crow snatch the ring and fly with it to its nest. He’s up in the tree now. “
“Mama!” Heike was shocked, but not because of the ring, but because she feared that her mother had become demented and fantasized.
Margret chuckled. “You do not believe me? Yes, it was like that. Corvids like to steal shiny things. The most common is magpie, but even crows do. I used to think these jet-black birds are ravens, because in the east, where I come from, the crows are gray-black. But here they are west of the Elbe – “
Heike lost his nerve. “Mom, please do not talk about ornithology! It’s about the ring! If he’s actually up there in the nest, you just have to get the nest down. “
“Yes,” Margret nodded, “but only when the boys are fledging. Otherwise they would die. “
Her daughter stared at her. “Are only crows!”
“Ugh!” Her mother’s look and tone made Heike row back. “Sorry. But then the ring is still in the bird droppings for weeks. “
“A bird’s nest is not that dirty. Nevertheless, I would of course thoroughly disinfect the ring and then have him again professionally cleaned by the jeweler. Then he is like new. “
Although Heike doubted her mother’s mind and kept asking her to bring down the nest, Margret waited. Only when three pitch-black young crows and their parents stalked the lawn and flew from tree to tree did they order a company to remove the nest. Margret stood down and could not wait to look inside. Actually, there was her wedding ring!
*
A week later she wore the disinfected and professionally cleaned jewelry for the first time when her phone rang. It was her friend Elfriede, who lived three streets away. “Would you like to come over, Margret? I just baked your favorite cake … “
“Great, Elfi, then I can tell you an incredible story right away.” Margret set off in anticipation, but soon she froze. The fighting dog from the house at the end of the street was outgrown and came to meet her teeth. She was not good enough to walk away to run away. Paralyzed with fright, unable to think, she stood on the sidewalk.
The dog was only a meter away from her when he suddenly stopped yelling. Out of nowhere, three jet-black birds had shot down, chasing him back to the end of the street with screeching and wing-beating, not letting go of him until his frightened owner had taken him back