Gertrude the Greedy Grebe

“Hey, baby, ain’t you had enough yet? You trying to eat all the fish in the pond?”

“Chh, chh, chh. Don’t bother me,” Gertrude said. “I’m busy.”

Leo the Lecturing Loon looked down his short bill at Gertrude. “Busy is right. You gonna get so fat stuffing yourself like that.”

Gertrude shook the water off her pretty head as she spotted a tiny sunfish out of the corner of her eye. She took aim, dove straight down, and came back up with the fish’s tail hanging from the corner of her beak. She looked Leo straight in the eye, then tilted her head back and swallowed the sunfish whole. “So?”

Leo gave up and flew away. He knew he knew best, but if Gertrude wasn’t going to listen, why should he waste his time trying to help her.

Gertrude happily continued gobbling little fishes, chomping on weeds, and snapping up bugs, now in sole possession of her little pond.

“Woot,” called out Oscar the Ornery Owl. “Are you happy now, Gertie? You have the whole pond to yourself and you can stuff yourself until you get sick.”

Truth was, Gertrude already felt a little peckish. Something rolled around in her stomach like a fish that wasn’t quite dead. She wasn’t about to tell Oscar that, however. “I’m very happy,” she said. “Very, very . . .”

Gertrude lost it all.

But once her stomach was empty, she was hungry again. She saw Oscar was still watching her, so she dove for a tiny sunfish, came up with the fish’s tail hanging out of her beak, looked Oscar in the eye, and swallowed the fish whole.

Some greedy creatures never learn.

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