The story of the selfish crow

This story was told by the most ancients, those who were more ancient than those we know of in this great land. The most ancients are of a time when the oceans did not divide the other lands, and when we were all one people with those of other great lands. Yes. There are other great lands, and we are all from the same people. We knew the most unknown and unspoken mysteries and stories of the land, the sea, the air and all the living upon this great place below the flying clouds. Our most ancients spoke of the living, all birds, animals, fishes, snakes and men as one. Thus, we knew of why some animals behaved the way that they do, and why some animals are in the manner that we see them.

In the time of the living that we do not know about, beyond the knowledge of the most ancients, birds and animals were moving about in a manner and aspect that we would find strange. But, the most ancients do say, that once, the crow and the hawk were friends, and that they went about their daily lives as one would do with human friends in these days. They would live like humans did, and would cook and eat their food in similar ways of the most ancients. They lived in a small thatch roof hut that was supported by a single tree. This is what we call a ‘gunyah’ in our recent times.

The crow and the hawk were handsome looking birds, and they were inseparable friends. They hunted together and flew about to help each other. Their prey animals were always wary about the crow and the hawk. The snakes and the small rats would be careful even if they would see only the crow or the hawk, for they knew that the other would be somewhere near.

On one such day, the crow and the hawk decided to hunt separately. This was very unusual for them. They had not been successful in their hunting on earlier days, and the hawk advised that it would be better for them to search and hunt in different places. This would help them get twice the prey that they usually caught. But, before going away separately, the hawk pointed out that they would return to their usual resting place in the desert, and would begin to cook the prey that either would have caught. This would help the other to get some decent cooked food, since the one who would be last to reach the spot would need food desperately. The crow agreed, since the hawk was his best friend, and they had helped each other through their lives.

The hawk was not so smart in his hunting, and the crow had realised that. The hawk seemed to be content with flying to the highest location, with the sun behind him, and would wait for any telltale sign of prey. The crow was absolutely unlike the hawk. The crow preferred to dive straight into the Sun, even if he could not see any prey. He preferred to scare his prey, for they would not know the manner of predator that came at them from opposite the sun. The hawk wanted to wait for the prey, while the crow wanted to go in search of the prey. The hawk felt that one should conserve ones’ life energy, while the crow declared that one should struggle, work hard and make determined efforts to seek ones’ food.

The hawk went to hunt in the direction of the Sun’s path. Thus, he flew from West to East and lost the advantage of the day. The crow was keen and happy to struggle and challenge the sun. So, he flew directly at the sun, and travelled East to West. He increased the length of the day by flying towards the West. Very soon, by noon, the crow arrived at an extensively spread out wetland. He knew that the wild ducks of this wetland were very confident about their ability to escape from any predator. The crow and the hawk had failed on all their earlier occasions that they had come to this wetland to hunt for ducks and other water birds.

The crow was a smart hunter, and he hid inside the high grass stalks that were at the banks of the wetland. The water birds and ducks were in their thousands and were very confident that they were safe. On several occasions the crow and the hawk had come to hunt the ducks. The hawk chose to sit openly in the tall forest trees around the wetland, and the ducks could spot him very easily. They would immediately scatter and hide in the undergrowth near the wetland and some would fly away to other wetlands. The crow had tried to explain to the hawk that this was not the way to hunt but he would not listen or understand.

Today, the crow was alone and he decided to hunt in the manner in which he would be successful. He knew that the ducks would never come to forage inside the tall grass stalks for they would be very wary. First, he used his sharp beak and sliced one of the grass stalks, and cut a long piece of it for himself. He tested it by blowing in with it, and knew that this would work for the purpose he had in mind. Second, he gathered up the soft grass and wove a small bag. He hung this bag around his neck. He needed this bag to keep the ducks in, after catching them.

Next, the crow went to the banks of the wetland, and picked up some of the softened clay of the soil. Carefully, he rolled them tight, and made two small clay pebbles. He placed these clay pebbles in his nostrils. Now, he took the sliced up hollow grass reed, and walked slowly into the water of the lake. Never for a moment, did the crow ever doubt himself that he would not succeed.

He could now breathe with the hollow grass reed that he made sure would stay above the level of the water. The crow had walked in to the water completely. He was not seen. One could only see the tiny hollow grass reed that was moving about in the water. This could be spotted only by a very keen observer. Why would the ducks ever suspect that a predator would be hunting them so cleverly? The crow knew that the shadows of the tall forest trees would play tricks on the surface waters of the wetland, and nobody would ever realise that there was a hunter moving about.

The ducks were swimming about in the shallow water areas near the banks. They like to disturb the shallow waters and hunt for small fishes, insects and all other tasty prey that would start moving about. Very soon, the crow was walking about quietly amongst the ducks. He stood still, without making any obvious movement. One of the ducks got curious about this grass reed that seemed to move about by itself and came closer.

The crow knew that this was the best moment, and in an extremely rapid moment, seized the duck by the leg and pulled it below the water. With one swift jab of his beak, he killed the duck and hid it inside the bag that he had around his neck. The other ducks did not notice this, because some ducks would constantly dive inside the waters in search of prey and would come up at some other spot elsewhere in the wetland. Slowly, with this perfected technique, the crow had caught about two more ducks. Satisfied, he walked away from the shallow waters, once again, into the grassy area, and hidden, he came up behind it.

Walking away from the wetland, with his heavy bag of ducks, the crow was tired. He walked towards a slow flowing river that seemed to have been born from the wetland. The crow knew that there were some very tasty fish in this river. He had come with the hawk on many occasions but they had never been successful. The fish knew how to escape the hawk, because they could always spot him perched on the tall trees on the river banks.

The crow was a very determined hunter today. He hid the bag of ducks under some rocks and grassy outcrops, away from the heat of the sun. Once again, he went about the grass stalks, but was in search of a very different type of grass variety. He found it soon enough, and skilfully, he had sliced it, and sharpened one end to become a very dangerous lance-like spear. With this sharp lance, the crow walked into the shallow edge of the river waters, but did not go underwater.

He stood at the edge, waist-deep, and was very still. The lance-like grass stalk was kept hidden, but was very alertly kept ready for throwing. The fishes knew the crow, and were of the impression that he was a foolish hunter, because he would always come with the hawk. They were not afraid of the crow, and swam near him. With his sharp eye, and alert stance, the crow threw his grass-lance at the fish, and with the first attempt, caught a really good sized fish. The other fish were alarmed, and did not realise that one of them had been caught. They had not moved away, and before they could understand the threat, the crow repeatedly used the grass-lance and caught more fishes. He was happy and content now, and picked up the fish and ducks and went back to where he was supposed to meet the hawk.

What was the hawk doing in the meantime? As usual, he was not lucky. He had been over smart, and had been very ambitious. He had spotted what the most ancients knew as, a Gongurru, or what the ancients knew as Gungurru, or what you now know as a Kangaroo. So, we will describe the target prey in this tale, as a Kangaroo, so that you will understand it better and easily. The hawk had spotted a Kangaroo, with the sun behind him. He perched on a nearby tree, and waited for a good moment to hunt the Kangaroo. What he did not realise was that his shadow fell nearby, and the Kangaroo knew that there was a hawk behind him. In a flash, the Kangaroo hid behind another tree, and slowly moved away from the open patch of grass within the forest.

The hawk was puzzled. He had seen the Kangaroo moving about peacefully. He had not made any attack, and had stayed perched in the tall trees, high above the canopy. But suddenly, the Kangaroo was now out of sight. The hawk glided inside the canopy quietly, perched in the lower branches where he was perfectly hidden. Soon enough, he spotted the Kangaroo moving about in another open patch. Thinking himself to be smarter, the hawk moved again to the higher branches, out in the sun, and perched up, above, to keep a watch on the Kangaroo. And as before, his shadow was easily spotted by the Kangaroo.

This hide and seek game went on through the day, and the hawk was getting very angry. He was angry with the Kangaroo and also with himself. He could not understand as to how the Kangaroo was able to move away out of sight, before the hawk could attack. Very soon, the day was turning to dusk, and the hawk was very hungry. He decided that it would be better to go to the river and try and hunt some fish. But, the river was all disturbed and the fishes were in panic after the crow had successfully caught some of them. The fishes were discussing this sudden attack, and had not been able to understand that it was the crow.

The fishes and other animals inside the river were all in hiding. The hawk did not know about this. He kept searching for fish and any movement inside the river, but there was none. The sun was going down in the West very fast, and the hawk was now very angry and very very hungry. He decided to get back to the small thatch hut that was his home. He hoped that the crow had been successful in the hunt and had been able to cook some of the prey, and he would get something to eat.

That was not to be. The crow had returned to their hut and had started a small wood fire, and had slowly cooked the duck and the fish. He had waited for the hawk to return, but it was getting much delayed and the crow was hungry for he had not eaten for many days. He ate one duck, and then one fish, and then one duck and so on, and pretty soon, the crow found that he had eaten all the prey that he had caught that day. By the time the hawk had returned, he found that the crow did not have any food left for him.

He looked around, and he could smell the cooked duck, and he knew that it had been tasty. He counted the bones and saw all the feathers lying about, and he knew that the crow had eaten more than one duck. He was very angry with the crow. And as he moved about, he could now smell the fried fish, and all the succulent fish meat had been eaten by the crow. He counted the fish bones that were lying about, and he knew that the crow had eaten more than one fish. Now, he was extremely angry with the crow.

The hawk spoke accusingly to the crow, and said, “I thought you to be my friend! We have been together for so long a time and we have hunted and eaten together. I have shared my thatch hut with you and my wood fire with you on many occasions. Over some days, we have not eaten well, and our hunts have not been successful. You knew that, and you knew that I would be hungry. Yet, I find that you have eaten many ducks and fishes, and have not kept any for me?”

The crow knew that he would be accused by the hawk, and therefore, he kept quiet, waiting for all the accusations to be completed. The hawk continued, and said, “I had a very bad day today. I could not even catch a fish, and I had also tried to hunt a Kangaroo. Each time that I tried to catch the Kangaroo, my heart said that I would share it joyfully with my dear friend, the Crow. But now that I have come back to our dear home, I find that the wood fire has gone down, and you sit content and happy that you had caught many ducks and fishes.”

The crow could not hold back, and replied, “You are the reason for our bad hunting. You do not know how to hunt properly. Every day, you are the cause for the prey to be alarmed and for them to escape. Today, by myself, I could catch several ducks and fishes, with intelligence and strategy. You do not use either. I thought that you must have gone to hunt the Sun, for you seemed to fly directly towards it. I tried to keep some food for you, but you were too late, and I could not resist. I have eaten everything that I had cooked.”

This was a very upsetting reply from the crow. The hawk could not believe that his friend would betray him in this manner. He attacked the crow, and rolled him in the ashes of the wood fire. The crow was taken aback, not expecting such an attack from a dear friend. He did not realise that he had been selfish and that he should have kept some food for his friend. The hawk was very angry and attacked the crow repeatedly, not allowing him to get away from the ashes of the wood fire. After a while, the hawk got tired due to hunger, and went inside the thatch hut, to sleep and await the next day.

The crow found it very difficult to get out of the ashes of the wood fire. He went to the nearby pond to wash off the ashes, but one should know that all living beings, even if having been burnt, are keen to teach a lesson to a very selfish being. The ashes of the wood, from the living tree that had given up its branches, had decided to teach a lesson to the crow. They stuck fast to the feathers of the crow, and could not be washed off. And from that moment on, the crow has always been black in color.

The pond, with several living beings within it, was also angry with the crow. The wind and the soil near the wood fire were very angry with the crow. Thus, the wind, fire, soil, water and the sky above, got together and decided that from that day onwards, the crow would not be able to use any of his skilful hunting strategies to kill living beings, but would mainly have to survive on garbage, dead meat and the waste of other animals that would be thrown away by them.