The Bird That Made Milk
Xhosa folktale · iintsomi
Kwesukasukela. In a time of great famine, a poor man named Masilo was clearing a field when he caught a strange bird with shining feathers. As he held it, the bird spoke and begged for its life, promising that if he kept it secret it would feed his whole family. He carried it home and hid it in a great milk-sack. Each day the bird would shake itself and the sack would fill with rich, thick amasi (curdled milk), so that Masilo's family grew fat and healthy while their neighbours starved. The man's children, left at home while their parents worked the fields, grew curious about where the food came from. They opened the sack to play with the wonderful bird, and in their carelessness it slipped free and flew up to the rafters, then out through the doorway into the open sky. The children chased it across the veld, crying and pleading, but it flew higher and higher and was gone forever. When Masilo returned and found the bird lost, his grief was bitter, for the famine still gripped the land. He set out walking after the bird and was carried into strange adventures in far countries before he ever came home. Cosu cosu, the tale is ended.
The lesson: Guard a precious blessing with care and discretion; carelessness and idle curiosity can drive away the very thing that sustains you.