text: who sings the song 'the gift' other than garth brooks? this is the first verse,  "a poor orphan girl named maria  was walking to market one day  she stopped for to rest by the roadside  where a bird with a broken wing lay  a few moments passed till she saw it  for it's feathers were covered with sand  but soon clean and wrapped it was traveling  in the warmth of maria's small hand"  this is played often on radio stations during the holidays and i don't know the name of the artist. but i'm not referring to the same song by garth brooks. it sounds like a woman or a yound child singing it. the gift by:aselin debison   a poor orphan girl named maria was walking to market one day she stopped for to rest by the road side where a bird with a broken wing lay a few moments passed till she saw it for its feathers were covered with sand and soon clean and wrapped it was traveling in the warmth of maria's small hand  she happily gave her last peso on a cage made of rushes and twine she fed it loose corn from the market and watched it grow stronger with time  now the gift-giving service was coming and the chruch shone with tinsel and light and all of the town folk brought presents to lay by the manger that night  there were diamonds, incense and perfumes and packages fit for a king but for one ragged bird in a small cage maria had nothing to bring  she waited till just before midnight so no one would see her go in and crying she knelt by the manger for her gift was unworthy of him  then a voice spoke to her through the darkness maria what brings you to me if the bird in the cage is your offering open the door let me see  so she trembled she did as he asked her and out of  the cage the bird flew soaring up into the rafters on a wing that had healed good as new  just then the midnight bells rang out and the little bird started to sing a song that no words could recapture for its beauty was fit for a king  now maria felt blessed just to listen to that cascade of notes sweet and long as her offering was lifted to heaven by the very first nightingale's song