Eagle saw Vulture sitting in a tree and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Waiting on God," Vulture replied.
"I don't have to wait," said Eagle, "because God gave me strength. Just watch me kill and eat that quail!"
Eagle swooped down towards a quail on a stump, but the quail fluttered away and Eagle impaled himself on the stump.
Vulture flew down next to the dying bird.
"What are you doing?" Eagle asked faintly.
"I'm about to eat you," said Vulture. "I waited on God and, thanks to you, I didn't have to wait long."
Eagle died.
Vulture ate him.
Inspired by: "STORY" African Stories by Albert D. Helser, 1930. (There are stories from the Bura people of Nigeria.)
Notes: You can read the original story online. Although Helser refers to the bird as a buzzard here, he means a scavenger or vulture (the use of buzzard for vulture, as in the turkey buzzard, is an Americanism).
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