"Why, hello there! Thanks for stopping by! My name is Mr. Luke, but I would like you to call me Poppy. I am so glad that you have come!

With these old, gray feathers, it is a bit difficult to tell what type of bird I am, but I am a dove. I reckon you have come here to hear my story. Well, it all started when I was but a youngster, like yourselves..."

"It all started on a bright, lovely day. My brothers and sisters and I were taking a flying lesson from mother. We were all becoming quite sore from thumping to the ground, and all seven of us (including mother) were taking a break, when we heard a voice. It was beautiful and strong and gentle all at once. It was calling to us! We couldn't resist going to find it! We started walking through the woods to find the voice.

It was quite some time later when we reached the place where the voice was coming from. It was coming out of an oddly shaped house. We weren't going to just walk into a human house, so we began to look around the clearing where the house was. It was then that we noticed that there were all kinds of other animals around the house too! It looked like every type of animal in the entire woods had heard the voice. Then, slowly, one-by-one, all of the animals, from the elephants to the lizards, went into the huge house. There was two of most of the animals but, like us doves, there were seven of many of the small creatures. After watching most of the animals go inside, mother led us in. It was so peaceful inside. No one wanted to fight or argue. It was so nice! But I still didn't see the source of the voice. Pretty soon a man entered with his wife and sons and his sons' families. But it wasn't any of their voices that we had heard. The man looked like he was very old. After they all came in, the door shut behind them. I would have usually been scared of the dark, but it was too peaceful to be scared. I fell asleep.

I woke up to a weird sound. It sounded like something was banging on the roof of the house! The sound grew louder and louder until I couldn't hear anything else! After a long time of listening to the banging, the house started to move! It began shaking and wiggling around! Everyone had to sit down so they wouldn't fall down. I kept waiting for the banging and shaking to stop, but it didn't. It kept going like that for days and days and days... It quickly became very hot and smelly on the boat (I learned that it was a boat from the man, whose name was Noah). All that we could do was wait for the banging and shaking to stop, and the door to open.

At last the banging stopped. By this time, after many weeks in the boat, my brothers and sisters and I were nearly full-grown. We could all fly beautifully now.

One day, after the banging had stopped for many days, Noah came over to where we slept and picked me up! His hands were rough, but very gentle. He took me to a high, high window and toseed me out! I started falling toward the water! Right before I touched it, I remembered what my mother had taught me, and I opened my wings to start flying. I went soaring right up above the water. I looked around me and only saw water in every direction! The water was very pretty and sparkly in the sunshine. But it was scary too. There was no place to land except for the boat. I flew around above the water for a while looking at it, then I flew back to the boat to be with my family.

Noah did the same thing to me again seven days later. But he told me that he wasn't doing it to scare me. It made me feel better when he said that. This time, I saw some land and some olive trees! It was so nice to sit in a tree again after all the time in the boat. I wanted to take mother some olive leaves because she really missed the trees. So I plucked a couple and carried them back to the boat in my beak. Mother was so happy to see them. She couldn't wait to be outside again.

Noah sent me out one more time a week later. There was lots of ground and trees now. I really wanted mother to see it! I decided to build a nest for her, and one for myself, and then I would go get her from the boat and take her to the nest.

It took several days for me to build the nests and just as I was finishing, and about to go get my family, I saw them flying towards me! They were out of the oat at last! We were together! They told me that the boat had come to land and the door had been opened. We settled into our new home in the olive trees and lived there for a very long time.

I knew that I would never forget those months in the boat, I also knew that I would remember that awesome voice for the rest of my life."

"I hope that you enjoyed my story. Thank you for coming! I hope that you come again soon!"