Chicken was scared when she saw the big birds, but she relaxed when they squawked, "We'll all going to a party; you're invited too!"
Chicken happily accepted their invitation.
The birds headed to the river and got into a canoe, but when they hit a log just below the water's surface, the canoe broke in two.
"That's your fault, Chicken!" shouted Hawk.
"You're so big and fat," added Eagle. "We never should have brought you."
"It can't really be my fault," Chicken protested, but the other birds pressed her down into the water, and she barely escaped with her life.
[a Bakweri story from Cameroon]
Inspired by: "How the Hen and the Duck Became Friends" in African Jungle Tales by C. J. Bender, 1919.
Notes: You can read the original story online. This is a story of the Kwe (Wakweli) people of Cameroon. At the end of the original story, a duck rescues the hen, but I couldn't squeeze that in: "If it had not been for the duck who took the Hen on her back and carried her to the opposite shore, she certainly would have drowned. This explains why the Hen and the Duck live together and are such intimate friends."
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