An Allegory in Africa (Inspired by events in Whitehorse, Yukon)

Once upon a time, in the sloughs of Africa, there was a crocodile and a little bird. The crocodile and the bird had an arrangement where the crocodile would keep his mouth open so the bird could hop around inside and clean the crocodile's teeth. The bird liked this arrangement very much because the crocodile had good food stuck in his teeth.

One day, the bird was out flying around and she noticed an alligator. She started to wonder what his mouth was like.

The alligator noticed that the bird was yearning for something so he approaches her and asks, "Would you like to help clean my teeth?"

The bird reluctantly says, "I shouldn't, because I made vows with the crocodile that I would only clean his teeth..."

The alligator boastfully says, "So what??? The crocodile has nothing to do with me! It's none of his business if you clean my teeth also! Besides, I can provide you with better food than that crocodile can!".

Meanwhile, back at the other slough, the crocodile had just finished a meal and needed his mouth cleaned but the little bird was nowhere to be seen. Little did he know that an alligator was trying to entice the little bird into his mouth.

When the little bird didn't show for several days, the crocodile began to get worried. Finally, she showed up, but didn't spend a lot of time cleaning out his mouth.

The crocodile asked her where she had been, but she wouldn't say.

One day, after the bird spent hardly any time cleaning his mouth, the crocodile decided to make a trip from his slough to another slough to see what was going on.

It was then that he saw the little bird with the alligator. He was very upset, but when the little bird came back, he let her clean his teeth again. Afterwards, he confronted her.

The little bird promised that she would stop going to the alligator, but the crocodile was upset. The little bird continued to do a poor job and hardly seemed interested in keeping the crocodile's mouth clean.

Eventually, the crocodile knew that he had to stop depending on the little bird and went to find another slough in a far away land.

The little bird flew back to the alligator, unconcerned that her crocodile was missing. Little did she know that the alligator was having his teeth cleaned by another bird. The alligator being proud of himself of what he has accomplished, decides to play with two birds at the same time traveling between his slough and the crocodile's old slough.

One day, content with his new bird, the alligator wouldn't let the little bird clean his teeth because he felt that the other bird did a better job. Besides, he was worried that she would fly off to clean another crocodile's teeth, just like she did with the crocodile.

The little bird flitted from crocodile to alligator to crocodile, but word of her wandering ways spread throughout the crocodile and alligator community and she never found a crocodile that would keep her.

The Alligator