"For your own good," Heron warned his friend Parrot, "you mustn't come down from the trees."
"And for your own good," Parrot warned Heron, "you must never sleep in a nest."
But Heron was skeptical. "Perhaps Parrot is wrong. If I die, at least my family will know the truth." Heron built a nest, slept in it, and he died there.
Now Herons all sleep on branches, not in nests.
Parrot was also skeptical. He alighted on the ground, and people caught him there and made him a slave in their house.
Now Parrots know to stay in the trees!
Inspired by: "The Heron and the Parrot Are Unbelieving" in Among Congo Cannibals by John Weeks, 1913.
Notes: You can read the original story online.
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