A long, long time ago, when the world was still quite new, lived two birds who were the best of pals. One was a sleek, dark bird called Cormorant, and the other was a fancy bird with a beautiful crown of feathers, named Hoopoe. They loved to spend their days by the river.

One sunny morning, Cormorant said, "Hoopoe, my friend, let's go fishing! I'm feeling lucky today."
Hoopoe fluffed his crest. "A splendid idea, Cormorant! Let's see who can catch the biggest fish!"

So off they went to their favorite fishing spot. Cormorant dived into the water with a splash, and soon, pop! He came up with a wriggling fish. Then another, and another! His pile of fish grew bigger and bigger.

Hoopoe, meanwhile, dipped his beak in, waited, and waited... but nothing. Not even a tiny minnow. He tried a different spot. Still nothing. He watched Cormorant gobbling down fish after fish.

"Cormorant," called Hoopoe, a little sadly, "how do you catch so many fish? You're so good at it! I haven't caught a single one."

Cormorant, with his beak full, chuckled. "Oh, it's a secret, my dear Hoopoe. A special trick."
"Please tell me!" begged Hoopoe. "I'm so hungry, and your fish look so tasty."

Cormorant, feeling a bit mischievous, decided to play a trick. "Alright," he said, trying to look serious. "You see this smooth, heavy stone? I tie it to my leg. It helps me dive really, really deep where all the best fish are hiding."

Hoopoe's eyes widened. "A stone? What a clever idea! Why didn't I think of that?"
He quickly found a heavy-looking stone and, with a bit of vine, tied it carefully to his leg. "Here I go!" he chirped, and with a brave hop, he jumped into the river.

But instead of diving gracefully like Cormorant, Hoopoe sank like... well, like a bird with a stone tied to his leg! Glub, glub, glub! He flapped his wings wildly, water filled his beak, and he thought he was going to drown!

Cormorant, watching from the bank, burst out laughing. He laughed so hard, he nearly fell into the water himself. He didn't even try to help!

Finally, with a mighty struggle, Hoopoe managed to kick off the stone and scrambled back to the riverbank, sputtering and coughing, his beautiful crest all wet and droopy. He was very, very angry.

"You tricked me!" he cried, shaking his feathers. "You nearly made me drown, and you just laughed! That was not funny, Cormorant!"
Hoopoe was so furious he shouted, "From this day on, may your throat always feel dry and scratchy, so you can only make a croaking sound! And may you always have to dive deep, deep into the water for every single fish you eat, and never feel truly full!"

Cormorant stopped laughing. He didn't like being cursed. So, he shouted right back, "Oh yeah? Well, from this day on, may your beautiful crest always look messy and untidy, never neat! And may you have to peck around in smelly, mucky places for your food, instead of catching fine fish!"

And so it was. From that day forward, the Cormorant has had a croaky voice and always has to dive deep for his fish, often looking like he's stretching his neck to swallow. And the Hoopoe, though still quite pretty, often has a slightly disheveled crest and can be seen pecking for grubs and insects in the dirt and dung.

And the two birds, who were once the best of pals, never went fishing together again.

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