A man was on the side of the road with a large birdcage. A boy
noticed that the cage was full of birds of many kinds.
"Where did you get those birds?" he asked.
"Oh, all over the place," the man replied.
"I lure them with crumbs, pretend I'm their friend then when they
are close, I net them and shove them into my cage."
"And what are you going to do with them now?" The man grinned, "I'm
going to prod them with sticks, and get them really mad so they
fight and kill each other. Those that survive, I will kill. None
will escape."
The boy looked steadily at the man. What made him do such things?
He looked into the cruel, hard eyes. Then he looked at the birds,
defenseless, without hope. "Can I buy those birds?" the boy asked.
The man hid a smile, aware that he could be on to a good thing if
he played his cards right.
"Well," he said hesitantly, "The cage is pretty expensive, and I
spent a lot of time collecting these birds, I'll tell you what I'll
do, I'll let you have the lot, birds, cage and all for ten pounds
and that jacket you're wearing."
The boy paused, ten pounds was all he had, and the jacket was new
and very special, in fact it was his prized possession. Slowly, he
took out the ten pounds and handed it over, then even more slowly
he took off his jacket, gave it one last look then handed that over
too. And then (well, you've guessed it) he opened the door and let
the birds go free.
