A proud Eagle sat perched upon a lofty rock. It had become gaunt from a slow hunting season. Suddenly, the Eagle’s eye scanned across a Condor eating a dead animal.
“Why are you all the way up there?” The Condor asked from below.
“I must see all the forest, so that I may hunt for dinner,” said the Eagle.
“Tell me,” the Condor said, “what do you like about your high perch?”
“I sit above all creatures of the earth.”
The Condor bit a piece of dead deer meat and grinned. “Yes, and is it perfect then?”
The Eagle pondered, then said “No. It does get lonely.”
“Just lonely? The Condor asked through a mouth full of food.
“Catching food is terribly hard. Sometimes I do not eat.”
“Yes. Come down here and tell me more,” said the Condor.
With a bound the Eagle landed gracefully on the ground, “sometimes my head becomes itchy from insects.”
“Yes. Anything else?”
“My body becomes very taxed from hunting. In a few years I must knock my beak off, tear out my talons, and wait for it all to grow back!”
“My goodness,” the Condor said, “It is not so good as I imagined being an eagle.”
“No I suppose not,” the Eagle said despondently.
“Here have some food.” The Eagle began to eat the dead meat. “Here let me help you with your head.” The Condor began plucking the feathers off the Eagle’s head. “Now we will eat the food left by others and your body will no longer be so taxed.”
Thus the noble Eagle became so like the ignoble Condor none could tell them apart.
