Kokopelli
A small boy, alone in the forest, heard such a beautiful song that he went to see who was singing and, discovering a bird — the Bird of the Most Beautiful Song in the Forest — he brought it back to the camp to be fed. His father was annoyed at having to give food to a mere bird, but, the boy pleading, the bird was fed. Next day its song was heard again, and the boy again returned with it to the camp. The father was more annoyed than before, but again the bird was fed. Then a third day, and again the song! This time, taking the bird from his son, the father told him to run along; and when the boy was gone, the man killed the bird, and with the bird he killed the song, and with the song, himself. He dropped dead, completely dead, and was dead forever.
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| A fable of the Pygmies of the Ituri forest, as
described by Colin Turnbull in
The Forest People: A Study of the Pygmies of the Congo,
New York, 1962
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