Sharon Lucas, age 8, of East Gary, Indiana, for her question:

What is the legend of the phoenix bird?

The world of nature changes with the seasons. In winter, the leafless tress look dead. But we know that spring will bring them back to life. The legend of the phoenix tells the same story in another way. This bird of never never land died and was born again, full o£ new life, or so they say.

This olden legend is a good one to start the New Year. It reminds us that the Old Year is over and finished. But the moment it ends, a fresh New Year is born    teeming with enough promises to fill the 366 days ahead. People who lived in ancient times liked to wrap their ideas in stories. The events and doings in the story never really happened. No matter. The characters in the story were from the land of make believe. No matter. The idea in the story was a good one and the story was a pleasant way to hand on the idea to someone else.

The phoenix was invented in Egypt many thousands of years ago. He was, they say, some¬what like a heron and even bigger than a mighty eagle. His gorgeous plumage shone gold and vivid purple in the sunlight. And to the ancient Egyptians, the sun was the sacred giver of life to the land, the crops and the cattle. The imaginary phoenix bird was one of their sun god's sacred servants. His job was to tell and retell of the sun's never ending gift of life and to act out the story for everyone to understand.

Much later in human history, the ancient Greeks heard about the phoenix. Perhaps they understood what the story tried to tell. In any cage, they took it home to Greece and handed it on through generations of their children. The Egyptian and the Greek stories were the same and they both carried the same message of life, handed on and on. The legend says that there was only one phoenix, only one the fabulous birds could live in the world at a time. Some claim that he lived a span of 5,000 years. Others say that the span was 97,200 years. When the time was ended, the golden bird of the sun gathered sticks and built a fire. Then he settled into the flames and let them burn his gorgeous body to ashes.

But this was not the end of the story. In fact, it was just a new beginning. As the flames died down, a newly born phoenix arose from the fire. He was fully grown and freshly clothed in glittering plumage. The legend says that then the dutiful bird picked up the ashes of the burned phoenix and tenderly carried them to the altar of the sun god in Egypt. The new phoenix was then ready to enjoy his long life span. When at last it ended, he was ready to burn its body and hand on life to the next phoenix.

The beautiful story tells that life itself never really dies. The bare winter trees burst into spring buds. Last year's flowers leave seeds to grow next year's flowers. Last yea `s crops enrich the soil and make way for next year's crops. The ancient people who told the phoenix legend also believed that a human being may live out his span of years and re¬turn to enjoy another lifetime on the earth. In any case, the phoenix is a good legend to remind us that each Old Year gives birth to a New Year.