English for Students

The Small Red Feather

The Small Red Feather :



There once lived a man with his wife. They were very poor and always hungry. The man often went to the forest. But he was a bad hunter and sometimes brought home only a small bird.


One day he went to the forest again. But it was a very bad day for him. He did not find even a small bird. He was tired and sad. He sat down to rest under a tree. Then he heard a sweet song of a bird. He looked up and saw a very small bird whose feathers were red.


The bird said, "I see that you are poor and hungry. I want to help you. I'll give you one of my feathers. Take it home and cook it. You will have a good dinner. Come back tomorrow and I'll give you another feather."


He thanked the bird and went home. He put the feather into a pot and told everything to his wife.


"Silly, how can the feather become food? You must catch the bird and kill it. Then we can cook the bird and eat it."


He did not answer. But looked into the pot and saw there a good Dinner.


Every day he went to the forest and every day the small bird gave him a red feather that made a dinner for the man and his wife. But his wife was very greedy. Every day she said to the man,


"We must not have only the little red feather. We must have the bird. Then we can cook two, three or four feathers every day and we shall have as much food as we like."


"But the little bird is my friend. I shall not kill it"


One day the woman followed her husband into the forest, but he did not see her. The woman heard the sweet song of the little red bird. She took a stone and killed it. The bird fell down off the tree. The man was very sad.


But the wife said, "Now we shall have much food every day."


They went home. At home the woman pulled the small red feather off the bird and put it into the hot water. She cooked and cooked it. But the feather was just a feather.


And from that day on they were again always hungry.

African Folk Tales Index