Page 44 - Fables volume 2

Sparrow and Cougar

Cougar psychotically paced the width of his cage in tight figure
eights during business hours. He had no choice: his private enclosure
was opened and raw meat tossed in only after the last tourist had
been siphoned through the zoo’s gift shop en route to the parking
lot. Each turn raked his gaze across the assembled gawkers, a mix of
bipeds hiding their terror behind rigid fascination and animated
jeering. For most he had no second glance; only the small ones, the
size of easy prey, merited a fleeting flicker of interest. Then it was
back to padding back and forth, a lap swimmer in time without end.
One morning, as he exited from his private apartment into the
public domain a few minutes before his tormentors arrived, he heard
a shrill piping voice overhead call his name.
“Cougar! Let’s talk: I have a proposition to make.”
He glanced up. A sparrow perched on the chain link roof of the
cage met his gaze. It flapped its wings and again trilled for attention.
The mountain lion feigned deafness. “Come down here, where I
can hear you better.”
“Ha! Not until we have a deal. I don’t want you using my beak for
a toothpick.”
Cougar growled, without amusement. “Then get out of here. I
don’t need you rubbing it in my face that you can come in here and I
can’t go out there.”
“No, no, no!” Sparrow was adamant. “I’m not here to tease you
like those overfed idiots do from morning to evening. I’ve got a plan:
we can help each other.”
“You? A paltry nitwit scavenger help me?” He rolled over, slapped
his tail and scratched at whatever insect was heading for his ear canal.
“You couldn’t lift the key to this cage. Ten of you couldn’t.”
The little bird jumped to a steel crossbar closer to her audience
rubbing its back on the concrete floor below.
“First of all, don’t underestimate me. I’m an omnivorous predator:
I’d prefer to eat live bugs than the junk food scraps scattered all over
this place. But the management has been eradicating them. Anyway,
that brings me to my point: you are pestered by fleas, ticks and mites.

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