Page 7 - G-Gold to Lead

The young man was so excited that his hands trembled. He told himself, “It is a gold block... my troubles are over. I’ll have money for food, toys for the children and enough money to move to town, learn a skill and get a job.”
He jerked off the ribbon with such haste that it dropped into the creek and floated off. He tore off the silk cloth, eager to see this “Great gift.” But his expression changed once he had the cloth removed.
He looked down into his hand at the “Great gift” and said, “Lead... this is just a brick of lead.” “Why yes, it is lead,” said the old man. “It is my most valued possession.”
At this point in the story, the adult crow who is telling it, usually explains that gold is a shiny rock that is very heavy. It is of no value to us because you can’t eat it or use it to make your nest. But to humans, it is really special.
I have heard stories of farmers giving a wagon full of corn for just one small sack of these heavy rocks. Lead is like gold in that it is a rock and is heavy but it is not shiny and for some reason humans are not very interested in it. It is kind of confusing to us but after all, we are just crows.
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