Kites and Crows

Koongoo'roo was the king of crows. He sent a message to Mway'way was the king of kites that he wanted the kites to be the soldiers of the crows.

Naturally the king of the kites refused this. 

There was a full fledged battle between the crows and the kites. 

It was obvious that the kites were winning the battle between the two birds.

Afraid that all the crows would be dead if the fight went on, one of the older crows named Jeeoo’see advised the crows to fly away from the battle.

The crows saw their dwindling numbers and realized that the old crow was being sensible. They all followed Jeeoo’see’s instructions. 

After this when the kites came for the next day’s battle they found the entire Crowtown empty. So the kites took over the city of crows.

A few weeks later Koongoo'roo was however determined to avenge their defeat in the hands of the Kites. 

Instead of another fight he came up with a better idea.

He ordered his other crows to pluck a few of his feathers and throw him into Crowtown.

A few of the kites found an injured crow in their new city and immediately captured him. 

Koongoo'roo put up a very innocent face and looked at the kites. “I asked the other crows to follow the path of the kites. They refused to listen to me and that is the reason that they threw me out of their group. 

The other kites did not know what to do and they took Koongoo'roo to the king of kites. 

Koongoo'roo told the same thing again and he further added that he believed that the way of the kites was better than the way of the crows. 

Soon over a period of a few months Koongoo'roo with his clever and honey filled words Koongoo'roo had become a part of the group of kites. 

Soon a great function of the kites came. The kites decided to go to a huge house the next day and celebrate the function in a grand manner.

Immediately on deciding this Mway'way went to Koongoo'roo house to tell the crow about the plans of the kites. 

Unfortunately Mway'way found Koongoo'roo lying on the floor in pain. 

Koongoo'roo had stomach pain and he could not even move from the place.

The next day the kites decided to leave Koongoo'roo to heal and they all left for the huge house.

That night after the kites had left the place Koongoo'roo very smartly called all his crows. Koongoo'roo asked the crows to assemble around the huge house. There he locked all the kites inside the house and made sure they could not escape. After that Koongoo'roo set fire to the huge house. Very few kites survived that incident.

That incident is still the reason that kites fly away when crows come close to them. 

Adapted from folk stories from Africa (Zanzibar)