The hoopoe is a strange mother. She steals the eggs of other birds and takes them to her own nest, sitting on them and hatching them. When the chicks hatch, she sings:
Child, resemble me!
Not your father! Not your mother!
Resemble me! Resemble me! Me-me-me-me!
The power of her words changes the chicks into hoopoes.
So she steals the dove's eggs, the thrush's eggs, eagle and vulture eggs, hornbill and guinea-fowl eggs, the eggs of all the birds.
Child, resemble me!
Not your father! Not your mother!
Resemble me!
Thus she changes the chicks; they all turn into hoopoes.
Inspired by: "The Story of the Hoopoe" in Lamba Folklore by Clement M. Doke, 1927.
Notes: You can read the original story online.
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