WHY BIRDS AND FISH ARE ENEMIES
WHEN THE WORLD MOLLUSK WAS YOUNG the world was a noisy place full of song and conversation between birds and fish. This was possible because birds used to live in the ocean. Things were different back then!
Back then, the fish were many and there were more of them then there are now. Fish used to speak and they were the most talkative of all the animals. The air used to rustle with their conversation the way the ocean ripples with their swimming.
Through song and conversation they passed knowledge to each other very quickly. Fish were the most knowledgeable, but they were the least wise. The lives of fish are too fast and too short for them to grow wisdom. So fish were very clever but also foolish.
Things were different back then! Back then, fish were even warm like all the other animals. That's all changed now and this is what happened:
First Man and his wife First Woman were fighting over a large clam. Both wanted to eat it but they had only one. So they dropped the clam instead and went their separate ways to opposite sides of the beach to sulk.
First Fish saw the man alone. Loneliness is strange to a fish so that made him curious. He approached and asked, “What is wrong, man? You look sad.”
But man did not know how to talk. He could not answer the fish.
First Fish pitied him and wanted to help. He gave man a small egg to hold that would pass the ability of speech but instead of holding it, the man ate it, and this is how man inherited speech. Man inherited speech from fish. His voice was deep.
“I am sad and cold!” First Man cried.
First Fish pitied him and wanted to help. He used his knowledge to teach the man how to make a fire. This was a mistake First Fish would later regret. So he and all the other fish would never speak to anyone again. From then on, fish were cold.
First Woman watched as the birds hunted for food. They picked and pried clams open easily with their beaks. It made her very sad to be the only one not eating so she cried.
First Bird approached her, for birds are very talkative, curious, and as foolish as the fish are. “What is wrong, klootchman?”
First Woman could not answer him.
But First Bird wanted to woo her. So he gave her an egg to hold that would pass the ability of speech. In her hunger she ate it instead. This is how women inherited speech from birds. Her voice was high.
“I am sad and hungry!” First Woman cried.
First Bird wanted to impress her so he taught First Woman how to make a spear to help her poke things as with a beak. This he would later regret as birds were then banished from living in the ocean for this transgression. Fish refused to speak with birds; and so the two became enemies.
But that's not all!
After learning to make fire, First Man ran to find First Woman and after learning how to make spears, First Woman ran to find First Man. They apologized to one another and began to share their knowledge.