46. WHY THE BUZZARD'S HEAD IS BARE

The buzzard used to have a fine topknot, of which he was so proud that

he refused to eat carrion, and while the other birds were pecking

at the body of a deer or other animal which they had found he would

strut around and say: "You may have it all, it is not good enough for

me." They resolved to punish him, and with the help of the buffalo

carried out a plot by which the buzzard lost not his topknot alone,

but nearly all the other feathers on his head. He lost his pride at

the same time, so that he is willing enough now to eat carrion for

a living.

Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology · 第 96 / 197 题