A Cherokee Legend
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.
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