A parrot was perched on a sandy archway at the entrance to the almost empty town in the desert. Its feathers were matted with sand and it had a large parcel attached to its left foot. The animal waited on its post with an almost unprecedented resolve. All the other parrots that were seated around it on the other sandy doorways and fences had given up waiting. Some murmured conversations in parrot-tongue and other had simply dozed off standing. But they all were waiting for the same thing. The bull was said to be coming today, or at least that’s what the tired, old bird that had flown in a fortnight ago. They had been waiting for about three hours, but were not going to stop anytime soon. It was said that if the bull came, then the birds would be able to speak to the two-legs once again, and if that happened then the parrots would finally be able to bestow their insight on farming and the actions of a town, and once again restore prosperity to the desert town.

The sturdy-built bull trotted into town on the thirty two hours of waiting, all of the parrots, which had previously been half asleep, were immediately at attention when the animal entered. Once inside the deserted town, it prodded around in the sand, seemingly looking for something. The behemoth of an animal went on like this for around 30 minutes, sticking its massive hoof into the ground with ease. And then, in an instant, the animal stopped. It stopped, looked around, and then promptly dropped dead in front of all the fowl. Instantly, the parrots erupted into chaos. Half of them flung themselves at the beast, trying to awaken it. The other group stayed on their perch or flew around in circles, confused. It was known now that obviously, the gift of language would not be returned to the parrots by this bull.