91 



one foot up in his feathers, shook his 

 head, closed his eyes and dozed peace- 

 fully. 



For the third time the king of birds 

 turned toward the Koko-bird and spoke 

 in a voice eyen more terrible than on 

 previous occasions. 



"Are you the most graceful and high- 

 est flyer among birds? Answer me quick 

 and heed well your answer." 



The Koko-bird merely opened one eye 

 and said sleepily, "I am," whereat the 

 vast concourse of birds were astonished 

 for the third time. Some opened their 

 bills in amazement at such unheard-of 

 audacity ; others hooted and screamed 

 clamorously, demanding that the wicked 

 Koko be severely dealt with. 



The king of birds now flapped both 

 wings to demand silence and attention. 

 Those who had their bills open closed 

 them with a snap and the clamorous ones 

 became perfectly quiet. The king then 

 turned toward the council and spoke in 

 an even, stentorian voice, as follows : 



"Gentlemen birds of the council. The 

 prisoner, otherwise known as the Koko- 

 bird, stands before you, self-accused and 

 self-condemned. I commit him to your 

 judgment. Let his punishment be as 

 severe as the bird law will permit." 



The bird council then adjourned to 

 the large council tree where they re- 

 mained in closed session for one hour. 

 They then returned to the bird assembly 

 and the leader thus addressed the king 

 of birds : 



"Your majesty, the grand council of 

 this bird assemblage, convened by you, 

 find the prisoner guilty and fix upon the 

 following punishment : 



"i. Because of his boast that he is the 

 handsomest of birds his tail and wing 

 feathers shall be pulled out and all other 

 feathers shall be shorn close. 



"2. Because of his boast that he is the 

 best singer among birds he shall be 

 struck dumb. 



"3. Because of his boast that he is the 

 most graceful and highest flyer ahiong 

 birds, he shall forever be prevented from 

 moving in the atmosphere in which we 

 move." 



No sooner had the speaker finished 

 when the handsome feathers of the Koko- 



bird disappeared. This so surprised 

 Koko that he actually awoke from his 

 slumber. He tried to say, "Well ! well ! 

 what has happened," but could not utter 

 a sound. The king of birds now flew 

 away, which was the signal for the ad- 

 journment of the assembly, for, you see, 

 their work was done. All of the birds 

 began to depart for their respective 

 home trees, but before doing so each one 

 said something sarcastic or insulting, 

 hoping to humiliate the forsaken culprit. 

 This merely annoyed Koko a little. He 

 tried to retaliate by boldly declaring that 

 he was the handsomest, the most musical 

 and the most graceful of all birds, as he 

 had often done before, but he could not, 

 for had not the council decreed that he 

 be "struck dumb?" He tried to catch 

 the little sparrow, who, by his derisive 

 twitterings, annoyed him even more than 

 the vulture, by his coarse insults, but his 

 wings would not carry him. He merely 

 succeeded in falling into the Boozoo 

 river. 



"Now I shall be drowned," he thought, 

 for you remember he could not talk. 

 But behold ! he did not drown ; by means 

 of his featherless wings and tail he could 

 swim beautifully on top of the water as 

 well as in it. His body feathers being 

 gone, they did not become water-soaked 

 and give him the snufBes, a severe cold, 

 or perhaps pneumonia. Koko was as- 

 tonished to find that water, which he had 

 formerly feared, was not bad at all. He 

 could drink whenever he wanted to with- 

 out having to stand at the edge of the 

 river bank, as he formerly did and get his 

 feet all mud. In time his wings and 

 feet became fins and the feather stumps 

 became scales ; in other words, the erst- 

 while boastful Koko became a fish. 



The Koko-fish (for so must the Koko- 

 bird be called now), would have lived in 

 the Boozoo river peacefully had not an 

 owl noticed him one day. 



"O, ho! What is this?" said the wise 

 one, blinking both eyes. "Such a 

 creature was never seen before. I must 

 investigate closer." So saying he flew 

 to a lower limb and looked hard at Koko. 

 Koko, in turn, stared at the owl out of 

 one eye ; he did not wink or blink but 

 simply stared and said nothing. 



