The Legend of the Crow and the Magpie
Aug. 14th, 2006 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alliecat8The Crow and the Magpie
Many years ago there lived two brothers who belonged to the Crow family, and although both brothers were liked by all who knew them, they couldn't get along with each other; they seemed to be always bickering and arguing.
When hunting for food Crow and Magpie would go in separate directions, because they knew that if they hunted together their quarrelling would reduce their chances of being successful in the hunt.
On their arrival back at the campsite at dusk, each would light his own fire and begin the task of cooking his evening meal.
The fortunes of each varied from day to day, but often Magpie would arrive home with much more food than Crow, and naturally Crow would be jealous, which would cause another of their arguments. Then the calm of the night would be shattered by Crow and Magpie shouting angrily as they hurled abuse at each other.
One evening their quarrelling was so intense and hateful that they came to blows. Crow challenged Magpie to come to the circle of light around the fire and fight. Magpie then attacked Crow and as they fought, kicking the dust and firesticks in all directions, Crow struck Magpie a stunning blow which sent him hurtling into the centre of the hot coals and ash.
Crow immediately felt sorry for what he had done because he could see that Magpie was seriously hurt, so Crow stepped forward and helped Magpie to his feet. As Magpie stood up Crow noticed that Magpie's glossy black coat was sprinkled with the white ash of the fire.
This was the beginning of the Magpie tribe, who are just like Crows except that their feathers are, in places, ash white, whereas Crows are black all over.
Many years ago there lived two brothers who belonged to the Crow family, and although both brothers were liked by all who knew them, they couldn't get along with each other; they seemed to be always bickering and arguing.
When hunting for food Crow and Magpie would go in separate directions, because they knew that if they hunted together their quarrelling would reduce their chances of being successful in the hunt.
On their arrival back at the campsite at dusk, each would light his own fire and begin the task of cooking his evening meal.
The fortunes of each varied from day to day, but often Magpie would arrive home with much more food than Crow, and naturally Crow would be jealous, which would cause another of their arguments. Then the calm of the night would be shattered by Crow and Magpie shouting angrily as they hurled abuse at each other.
One evening their quarrelling was so intense and hateful that they came to blows. Crow challenged Magpie to come to the circle of light around the fire and fight. Magpie then attacked Crow and as they fought, kicking the dust and firesticks in all directions, Crow struck Magpie a stunning blow which sent him hurtling into the centre of the hot coals and ash.
Crow immediately felt sorry for what he had done because he could see that Magpie was seriously hurt, so Crow stepped forward and helped Magpie to his feet. As Magpie stood up Crow noticed that Magpie's glossy black coat was sprinkled with the white ash of the fire.
This was the beginning of the Magpie tribe, who are just like Crows except that their feathers are, in places, ash white, whereas Crows are black all over.
