the
whole group escorted Chirpy Bird down toward the rocky beach. In
a few minutes they reached a low spot near a weeping willow,
where several of the large fish grabbed Chirpy Bird and threw him
onto the shore.

"Now fly away and leave us alone," one of them said. And leave
them alone he did.

Man

Somewhere in a deep, tropical jungle lived a tribe of natives with
extremely odd behavior. Generations ago the tribe had in some
obscure fashion contracted a parasite which induced a seemingly
permanent delirium in each native, and which was passed on to
subsequent generations. The delirium increased with age, and most
of the adult natives showed it by eating dirt, sleeping on dunghills,
pummeling anthills with rocks even as the ants bit them severely, and
jumping out of trees onto their heads. This last maneuver caused the
natives to stagger around senseless for days, or simply to lie
unconscious and bleeding in the sun and rain. All these symptoms
together prevented the natives from caring for their personal lives,
and so they lived in deplorable squalor, with their huts falling
apart, and their children and themselves half starved and wholly naked.

Another odd effect of the mental distraction was an unnatural craving
for firewood. Unlike the other natives in the area, the members of
this tribe collected--and stole, and cheated and betrayed for--log upon
stick to pile next to their huts, even though in twenty very cold years
they couldn't use half as much as they already possessed. A few
natives had been crushed to death by collapsing woodpiles; many more
had died from fighting over decidedly unimpressive old branches.

One day a doctor came from the East to the village, and he immediately
recognized the symptoms of the disease (a common one) for which he
carried the cure. He went gladly and confidently to the chief of the
tribe and announced his ability to remedy the ills of the people,
expecting to be praised and welcomed for his offer of help. To his
surprise, however, the chief rebuffed him with contempt and asserted
boldly that there was nothing at all wrong with his people, that they
had always acted that way since he could remember, that it was the
human condition, and that they were all perfectly happy. Then,
after ordering the doctor to leave immediately, the chief jumped
out of a tree into the tribal latrine and was unavailable for any
further discussion.

Substantially taken aback but