There was a family, and they had a garden. A bird kept eating the seedlings. "Catch the bird," the parents told their son. He did.
"Take me carefully, carefully!" sang the bird. "Carefully, carefully, carefully!"
The parents wanted to eat the bird; the boy protested, but they made him kill it.
"Kill me carefully!" sang the bird.
Then he cooked the bird.
"Cook me carefully!" it still sang.
He put the food on the table.
"Eat me carefully!" it sang.
They ate, and their stomachs burst. They all died.
Then the meat came back together, and the bird flew away.
Inspired by: "Take Me Carefully, Carefully" in African folk tales by Roger Abrahams, 1983; this is a Kaguru story from Tanzania.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The story does not say what type of bird it was; this is a picture of a turaco:
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