Paintings that seem to tell stories

​11 Starlings
Some paintings seem to have a story that goes with them.  This paintings’ story was a collaboration with several people. With each change of type style from italic to regular you’ll know a different person is continuing the story.
 
 Eleven Starlings, three woodpeckers and five colorful songbirds lived in a forest. It wasn’t an ordinary forest, but deep into the black forest of Germany where all fairy tales begin. 
One day, the Starlings awoke to find a tiny girl on the forest floor. She was wrapped in a quilt and looked up at them, in their nests, fixing her wide blue eyes on the littlest Starling. The child hummed a tune as the birds settled down on the floor next to her, one by one. 
The Starlings were keeping watch over her as she fell asleep when suddenly they heard the leaves rustle. Those on the ground chattered nervously among themselves and called to the rest of the flock. The birds that were still in the trees flew down and just as they landed on the ground a troll crept from behind a tree. The Starlings gathered around the still sleeping girl, each taking a piece of her blanket in its beak, and flew with her to the treetops.
Confused, the child awoke and sat up in the Starlings' nest and contemplated her predicament. Food was at the forefront of her mind as was the tall pine tree in which she was now perched. Suddenly she heard the call of a hunting party below and the clatter of horse hooves. As if never there, the horn, once again, sounded and the clatter of clomping of hooves turned into a rhythmic gallop and the party was gone. The child was left with the fever pitch of her Starlings' startled chirping.
When all was silent again, the little child, Kasia, wondered how she could communicate with the birds.  She knew that Starlings were smart and had even heard stories that they could learn words. Somehow she had gotten lost when her family was escaping the Yellow Marshes to make their way to the tower in the Wood. She remembered her father looking at an old map and deciding to head north.  But in her current situation, she had no idea which way to go.  Where was north?

See what you can add to the story.  :    Post your story ending in the comment section of the blog.