Perched on a limb of a tree by the bank of a river was a kingfisher of a beautiful deep blue color. His head was ornamented with a crest of long blue feathers with white rings. This crest he could erect or lower at will.
“Here I am on a good vantage ground,” said he, “where I can look for prey. Small fish is the food I live upon. Sometimes I have to wait long before I get a meal. Oh, how hungry I am! I hope some little fishes will come my way. I can do nothing with the big ones, as I am a tiny bird.”
The little kingfisher waited for his breakfast, looking carefully at the water.
Once in a while he saw a small fish, and watched, hoping that he would come to the surface; but several times he was disappointed. His crest stood erect every time he became excited and watched a fish in sight, and made ready to pounce upon him. He said to himself: “I have a long beak to enable me to get my living. I can dip into the water and get at the fish with it. My legs are very short, and of no use except to perch with.” Two or three times he left his perch, and hovered over fish, his wings fluttering quickly. He appeared almost upside down; but the fish was too deep in the water for him to reach, and after hovering about a while over them, he returned to his watching-place, feeling disappointed and more hungry than before, for the sight of the fish whetted his appetite.
While he was waiting, a shoal of little fish in the middle of the stream were swimming away from the big fish, who had come among them and were gobbling them as fast as they could. The little fish said: “Let us swim as fast as we can to the bank of the river for protection, for these horrid big fishes will not be able to pursue us in the shallow water.”
In their flight they were pursued by the big fish, and a great number gobbled up. In their panic they leaped above the water in order to escape; but fish cannot remain in the air, so as they fell into the water again, many disappeared in the big mouths of their pursuers. Soon the more fortunate ones were out of the big fishes’ reach!
While the kingfisher was waiting for prey, and the little fishes were swimming toward the land, a long slender snake whose life was chiefly spent in the thickets and bushes, preying upon birds and eating their eggs, saw the kingfisher, and said: “I must crawl toward this bird and have him for my morning meal. A great gift has been given to me—I am green and of the color of the leaves, so that I can get my living; because thus I am able to approach birds without being seen by them. But I must be wary, for all the winged creatures are afraid of us green snakes.”
The snake wound along from branch to branch, never losing sight of the little blue kingfisher, his cunning eyes glittering with joy, for he thought he was sure of his prey, and he said, “Soon I am to enjoy a nice breakfast.”
The kingfisher was unaware that one of his worst enemies was coming toward him, and he kept up his watch. Fortunately for him, the shoal of little fish came in sight just in the nick of time, and they were the cause of his life being saved.