The children found an injured bird

and brought it home. It was strange and exotic, not of some species native to the area. Nobody had ever seen anything like it in pictures or on TV either. But the bird was a mess. It was covered with dirt and mud. It had twigs and bits of root stuck to it, and small stones. Through all this, some long colorful feathers could be seen, but most were bent and broken.

The children wanted to keep the bird, and their parents eventually agreed, but they wanted to clean it up first. They tried washing off the mud, but it was almost sticky, like some sort of tar. So they trimmed off the soiled feathers, and removed those that were broken. It took hours, but finally the grime was gone, as were all the long colorful feathers. Some short ones remained though and the bird was clean, but now it didn't look so strange or rare, and the children wondered why they had bothered to bring it home.