The Crow And The Parrots - ROGER CRATON
Once, a rather large and smelly crow found his way through an open door into a pet store and settled on a perch next to the parrots. The owner was amused at the stand-offish manner that the parrots held toward the crow. People in the community got wind of the crow and came into the shop to see it. So, the owner began feeding the crow.

Every morning the owner would come in early to feed the birds. As he entered, he would call out to the birds, "Good morning friends." The parrots would all mimic him saying,"Morning friends." As he fed them he said,"How are my pretties?" The parrots would mimic. "Are my pretties?" As he finished he would say, "Bye sweeties." The parrots would mimic saying, " Sweeties." The crow, quietly bemused, always observed this. One day he asked them, " Why do you copy his words?" The lead parrot snapped, " Quiet fool! Those are the sacred words, the root of all are beliefs. We must repeat them to insure future feedings." The crow retorted, " It is you that are fools, those words are empty. He will feed us regardless of our response. He is paying no attention to your words." The parrots started crying out for his blood. The parrot leader said," You know nothing. We don't have to listen to you. Keep quiet and count your blessings that the owner feeds you too as a result of our prayers."

The next day, the crow decided to prove his point when the owner came in as usual to feed the birds. The owner entered saying, " Good morning friends." The parrots copied him as usual, however this time the crow followed with a loud, "CAW!" The parrots were horrified, the owner didn't seem to even notice. As he fed them, the owner said as usual, " How are my pretties?" Once again the parrots mimiced, once again the crow cawed. The parrots began to mutter among themselves. As before, the owner disregarded him. As the owner finished feeding them he said," Bye sweeties." The parrots again copied him, the crow again cawed.

When the owner departed from them, the parrots surrounded the crow. The crow laughed at them. " I told you fools. He doesn't care what you say, he will feed us regardless of what we say. Our words mean nothing to him." The parrots started shrieking. The lead parrot said, You are a liar and a heretic! We know the truth and we will not be dissuaded by some smelly vagabond! For the crime of blasphemy we sentence you to death!" And with that they pecked the crow to death.-THE END