I heard the following story in the book Liturgies for Resisting Empires by Kat Armas, and she credits it to the indigenous people of North America.
Once there was a great forest fire, and all the animals of the forest fled to the edge of the tree line and watched as tree after tree went up in flames. The bears, deer, and elk watched in fear, as did the smaller animals. The hummingbird saw the fire and immediately flew to a nearby lake, picked up a single drop of water in her beak, and flew back to the forest where she dropped it into the fire. Again and again, the hummingbird flew back and forth from the lake to the fire, each time with a single drop of water in her beak.
The other animals watched in amazement as the hummingbird zoomed back and forth from water to fire. They were incredulous; did she really think she could put out the fire drop by drop? Finally, an elk asked her to stop. She hovered in the air just in front of the elk, and he backed up so he didn’t have to look at her with crossed eyes. “Hummingbird, what do you think you’re doing?” She flew to the tip of his nose and said, “What I can.”
The Rev. Jason Shelby
Rector