The Lightning-Bird

When the Lightning-Bird flies overhead, the people think that lightning is coming, and they are afraid.

When people hear the call of the Lightning-Bird, they run away. They imitate the cries of other birds, but they never imitate the Lightning-Bird's cry.

A lightning flash means the bird is looking for its nest, and the Lightning-Bird kills anyone it finds there. The Lightning-Bird's nest is very big, and so are its eggs, but people do not rob the Lightning-Bird's nest the way that they rob the nests of other birds.

No one dares to hunt the Lightning-Bird or eat its flesh.

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Inspired by: "The Bushmen's Fear of the Lightning Bird" in The Tati Bushmen (Masarwas) and their Language (in Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland) by S. S. Dornan, 1917.
Notes: You can read the original story online. More about the Hamerkop bird (Hammerhead) at Wikipedia.

hamerkop bird