Floodwaters rushed through a village. Rooster shouted, "Convey greetings to my great-uncle Crocodile!"
When the floodwaters conveyed Rooster's greetings, Crocodile was furious. "That skinny two-legged creature is no relative of mine. I demand that he stand trial for this outrage!"
King Hippo of the river animals and King Eagle of the birds convened a trial, and Rooster offered testimony in his own defense. "Crocodile has four legs," he proclaimed, "but he was born from an egg. Just like me! I salute him as my great-uncle!"
"Rooster is right," Crocodile admitted. "We are both born from eggs; we really are related."
Inspired by: "The Fowl Family Tree" in Umbundu: Folk Tales from Angola by Merlin Ennis, 1962.
Notes: You can read the original story online. Even though the original story is very short, it is full of great details, including a poison test which I did not include here. You can find out more about poison ordeal trials in Africa in this Wikipedia article: Trial by ordeal.
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