This story explains why the song of the mourning dove sounds the way it does.
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The boy, her grandchild,
accompanied her...
Going with the old lady to gather clover.
And there to the south, south somewhere,
they gathered clover.
So then,
after having gathered for a long time,
she said to her grandson,
telling the boy,
"I am going to die of thirst...
get water with this basket."
So then the boy took the basket
way down south
going towards the stream.
On the way, playing,
skipping rocks,
running around and around
on top of the hills,
and swinging around in the trees.
Then, I guess he came there to the water.
So then, with the basket,
he picked up water.
Still he was playing, playing,
dancing on the way,
hitting birds with rocks on the way,
chasing rabbits around and around.
and walking like that,
slowly walking, playing,
towards there,
where his grandmother was...
And then,
coming to the place
where his grandmother was…
that grandmother of his was gone.
"Grandma, where are you?"
calling to his grandmother...
"Grandma, grandma, where are you?"
"I brought your water now."
as if from under the ground,
from somewhere,
his grandmother answered,
"Because you were gone a long time,
I died of thirst,
and I have left you."
And looking upward,
the boy scanned the sky,
and there, upward,
this small bird was flying.
That must have been his grandmother.
Flying upwards, flying...
so the boy stood and watched.
he started to cry for his grandmother...
So that is why this one kind of bird cries...
that little boy cried for his grandmother;
this bird still to this day talks that way.
That boy's mourning song,
this is what we now hear;
that song the boy cried
for his grandmother...
The end.