The Mayan legend of the Toh bird

“Tuuut, tuut” can be heard in the distance, it is the Toh bird that perches high in the trees of the Mayan jungle, moving its tail up and down simulating the movement of a pendulum, the sun’s rays hit its small body and reveals its beautiful tail with bright blue plumage, but although to the eye this bird is beautiful, a long time ago it was even prettier, do you want to know the story?

It is said that the Toh was a boastful, proud bird and his only interest was to be contemplated, his beauty was so great that he was compared to the very King Kukul (The Quetzal), for this reason his arrogance grew more and more, he was part of the royal species, so much was his ego, that he made other birds hunt his food in order not to wear out his plumage and be able to continue  moving his long, delicate and shiny tail under the rays of the sun.

But one day, as dusk approached, the sky darkened, a storm was approaching, so a meeting was called in the jungle, to assign each bird a task so that all together they could shelter from the coming disaster: the parakeet, the macaw, the toucan and the woodpecker had to cut large branches; the chachalaca and the bush turkey would carry heavy branches, while the small birds would gather plants to cover the shelter.

When it was the turn of the Toh bird, he refused to do any work that was demanded of him, he told the other birds that he was not a worker, that he belonged to the royal species, the pleas of the other birds were so strong that he indignantly decided to help in the construction, after a short time he was exhausted and without being seen he flew away to some cracks in a stone wall, he curled up and fell asleep, but he never realized that his tail had been left unprotected hanging outside his shelter.

The great storm that lasted all night was over and the birds came out to spread their wings, to sing with happiness, when the Toh bird heard the song of his companions he flew at once to the top of the trees, perched on a strong branch and next to the royal birds he let the sun illuminate his precious feathers so that the rest of the kingdom could contemplate him as it was customary.

But something was not right, the other birds began to mock him, the whispering reached the Toh bird who, surprised, turned to look at them, between laughs one shouted: “Your tail is ruined, surely you damaged it by working so hard!”, the horrified Toh looked at his tail and saw only two long bare sticks, just a few small feathers had been left on the tip, saddened and upset he recognized his mistake, but his pride was stronger than him and he flew away.
Since then it is said that the Toh bird hides in the immense jungle, shielding itself from the taunts of other birds, making its home in holes in the caves and wagging its tail to remember how immense and precious it once was.