The Two Cockerels

Two cockerels sat in a tree on separate branches, equally high above the ground. One glared across the trunk at the other, quite upset at the company.

“This is my tree!” shouted the first. “You have no right to be up here.”

The second one frowned. “I sit on this branch just as you on yours.”

Unhappy with this answer, the first flew up to the next branch. “I now sit higher than you. This is my tree!”

In response to this challenge the second one climbed up not one, but two branches, now being the one further up. “I claim this tree!”

Thus the two birds continued upwards, bickering and squawking loudly until they reached the highest branch at the same time.

“This tree belongs to me!” screamed the first.

“I want this tree!” screeched the second.

So busy were these two cocks with their fighting that they did not hear the approach of a hunter down below. Now at the top of the tree, with nowhere to hide, both birds were easy targets for the man. He returned home with both birds, plucked their feathers and roasted them for his family, and he set them on the table for dinner and paused to give thanks to God for his plentiful bounty.