The Legend of the Kea

One peaceful day there was a gigantic forest where birds of many colours lived in harmony, and they shared all the juicy berries and nectar. All of the lovely birds were happy but the kea was playing jokes on his friends. Then the time of the quarrelling began and the grey warbler was the first greedy bird. The seagull stole berries from birds beaks. Tomtits started fighting with the kiwi. All of the flowers, nectar and fruit  had all been squashed down. Then there was a stormy voice and it started getting dark - there was a huge silence and all of a sudden Ka came, the greatest bird of all. He was ferocious and Ka said " you have almost destroyed the beautiful forest. And now you will be busy planting trees and berries". Then Ka ordered the birds to come out from their hiding places and fly up to the tree to get their job, perches and feathers. Ka gave the tui and the bellbird a nice voice. The kea climbed up into the back of the tree and he stole the feathers behind Ka's back. Ka said the grey warbler was so greedy that it will not eat berries any more, it can only eat bugs in the ground. Tomtit and wren changed their beaks so they could no longer eat fruit. Then Ka said to the kea" I will take your voice and you only keep your beaks, claws and wings. So Ka shut his wings and let the sun shine. The keas now have a place to live that is the snowy mountains but not in the forest. They were banished for stealing.