Poisonous Tree

Chẫu Chàng

Bird Village, 13-3-2026

2023 Vuong Quan Hoang – Fishtail palm in Ninh Binh, Vietnam (January 5) 

During the first days of spring, Kingfisher begins to suffer from headaches and dizziness. It is probably because the weather keeps shifting unpredictably between heat and cold. He feels exhausted all day, and at night, lying in his earthen burrow—cold and damp—makes it even harder to sleep, which worsens the headache. He has barely drifted into a light sleep when morning arrives. Noisy chatter is already filling the entrance of his burrow.

Still half-asleep and irritated by the noise, Kingfisher pokes his head out of the burrow and immediately bumps into Bulbul, who is rushing toward him in panic.

Kingfisher shouts: — What are you doing, running as if Death itself were chasing you?

Bulbul stammers: — Dead… dead for real… out there… they’re… dead.

No sooner has he finished speaking than Bulbul collapses onto the ground, lying stiff and motionless. Kingfisher is terrified and flustered, not knowing what to do with his feet or tail. Luckily, Heron arrives just in time, also rushing over. He drags Bulbul to the base of a banana tree and urgently asks Kingfisher to come inspect the scene.

The two of them fly to the place Bulbul has reported, where Death has supposedly visited. The sight is horrifying. Dozens of residents of Bird Village lay “dead” across the grassy field. Nearby stands a tree whose red fruits have fallen everywhere. Even more astonishing is that the tough bully Hawk is also sprawled on the ground, stiff as if long “dead.”

Frightened out of his wits, Kingfisher orders Heron to drag the “bird corpses” into a pile near the tree. Then, while Heron is busy, he trembles and hurriedly flies back to his burrow, curling up in a corner. Lying there with his eyes closed, Kingfisher cannot stop seeing the horrifying scene replay in his mind.

Toward dusk, hearing Bulbul’s sharp voice outside the burrow entrance makes Kingfisher even more terrified. He thinks Bulbul’s ghost has returned to accuse him… But when he gathers his courage and cautiously opens his eyes, it is not a ghost at all—it is truly Bulbul, with Heron beside him, both looking quite cheerful.

Kingfisher tries to suppress his fear and politely invites the two assistants into his burrow to ask about the situation. It turns out Bulbul has not died—he merely fainted after eating the red “poisonous fruit.” The whole incident happened because the birds in the neighborhood had egged each other on. Heron then reports that all the “dead” birds have revived and returned home. Hawk is the last to get up.

After hearing this, Kingfisher pretends to ponder deeply and tells them: — What happened today—this business of dying and coming back to life—must be thoroughly investigated. Otherwise, Bird Village will never live in peace!

Hearing Kingfisher speak in such a grave and mysterious tone, Bulbul and Heron listen with great respect and admiration. As he speaks, Kingfisher thinks of the reclusive and learned lay hermit—Old Owl living at the edge of Bird Village. Old Owl rarely socializes, but he understands Dao and can answer almost anything. After seeing his visitors off, Kingfisher quietly slips through the darkness and flies to Owl’s nest. At that moment, Owl is preparing his tools to go hunting mice. When night fully falls, he will perch among the fishtail palm heavy with ripe fruit, waiting patiently to catch mice.

Just in time, Kingfisher asks Owl about the incident of the “poisonous tree” that has nearly killed a whole flock of birds in the Village.

Owl replies: — Death hasn’t arrived at all.

Kingfisher stares wide-eyed: — But it was obvious! They ate the poisonous fruit, collapsed as if dead, and then later came back to life.

Owl laughs: — Those weren’t poisonous fruits. They were mulberries. The fruit is harmless—even healthy to eat. But when the ripe berries turn dark purple, they contain sugar. In the damp spring drizzle, they ferment and turn into alcohol. The darkest berries taste the best, but if you eat too many, you get drunk. That’s what happened—they were drunk. Once the drunkenness wears off, they’re fine again, even a bit more cheerful after a long sleep...

Kingfisher asks timidly: — So… I can eat them too, right?

Owl squints and suggests: — Of course. Ripe mulberries even help cure insomnia and headaches.

Kingfisher jumps in surprise, wondering how Owl knows about his insomnia and headaches.

After thanking Owl, Kingfisher flies back to the mulberry tree that caused all the morning’s chaos and cautiously tries a few of the darkest berries. Indeed, they are very sweet and delicious. Still, to avoid getting drunk and passing out, Kingfisher eats only a little before returning to his burrow to sleep. Even with only five or so berries, his flight back looks quite wobbly.

That night, Kingfisher sleeps very well, with no headache at all. In the morning, feeling cheerful and refreshed, he even burst into song—forgetting that his voice sounds like a shrill gym whistle that no one can stand listening to, except a few female kingfishers when they are flirting in hopes of getting some tasty fish. However, as we all know, when there is a little alcohol in one’s body, their boldness tends to increase greatly.

When the excitement subsides and he becomes calmer, Kingfisher reflects again. It turns out that the other birds have already discovered the pleasure of this treat, and only he and Heron have learned about it last. Well then—from now on, he will monopolize the mulberry tree and eat all the spring fruit himself. After all, it is also a cure for insomnia and headaches.

Having devised his scheme, Kingfisher summons Heron to a meeting and proposes a plan to forbid the birds of the Village from going near the mulberry tree. Heron, innocent and unaware that this is Kingfisher’s premeditated scheme, diligently goes around delivering the message to every bird’s nest. The announcement goes roughly as follows:

The tree with red fruits that recently caused birds to die and come back to life is a “poisonous” mulberry tree. The tree is planted by humans in the nearby village to lure Death to capture wandering spirits. As Bird Village has grown larger—and since the birds tend to eat carelessly—starting this year Death will begin collecting taxes from Bird Village. Anyone who continues to eat the “poisonous” mulberries will have to pay the tax with their life. These facts have been verified by Old Owl and are therefore highly reliable. Anyone who refuses to obey—if they die, they have only themselves to blame!

The news spread everywhere. Following something like Sun Tzu’s strategy of psychological warfare creates widespread anxiety. The birds are half-believing and half-skeptical, but when they hear that Death will “collect taxes” in the form of their lives, they become somewhat frightened. So even though they love eating the fruit, they temporarily stop and wait to see what will happen.

Only Hawk hears the news and sneers, dismissing it as fake news. It seems that Hawk also occasionally interacts with wise Old Owl, though both of them are rather solitary and rarely socialized, so few birds know about it. Still, since Kingfisher also maintains good relations with the villagers, Hawk thinks it will be unwise to provoke him. After all, Hawk frequently sneaks into the human village to steal chickens. If Kingfisher becomes annoyed and tips off the villagers, Hawk’s livelihood will be ruined. So Hawk did not openly challenge the claim. But the ripe mulberries are delicious, nutritious, and plentiful in spring—there is no way Hawk would actually obey Kingfisher’s order and stop eating them!

Kingfisher knows this as well, so he makes a quiet compromise. After all, having just the two of them share the mulberries is still far better than letting a hundred birds in the village eat them.

Without saying a word to each other, both Kingfisher and Hawk come to eat at dusk, avoiding the gossip of the other birds. Living in a burrow, Kingfisher usually picks fruit from the lower branches. Hawk, on the other hand, prefers the fruit on the higher branches. In the darkness, even though they are feeding from the same tree, they never run into each other.

Still, a low probability does not mean zero. One evening, after finishing the lower branches and already slightly tipsy, Kingfisher decides to dart up to the higher branches to continue eating. The more one eats those ripe mulberries, the stronger their effect becomes. As the alcohol takes hold, enthusiasm grows, and movements become bolder. Just as Kingfisher shoots upward, he crashes straight into Hawk’s beak at the exact moment Hawk has finished picking the fruit from the top branches and is diving down to gather more.

The heavenly collision knocks Kingfisher flat to the ground, unconscious. Hawk, too, is stunned and, caught by surprise, tumbles from the branch and lands beside Kingfisher.

In Bird Village, only Old Owl stays awake at night—and there is nothing he does not know.

When the alcohol-related traffic accident occurs, only Owl sees it. He drags the two limp bird bodies to the base of the tree and guards them so that the mice will not come and nibble at them. When the two drunken birds finally regain consciousness, Owl whispers a few words into each of their ears.

No one knows what the old Owl said.

But after the drunken traffic accident around the “poisonous” mulberry tree, the friendship between Kingfisher and Hawk improves noticeably. Soon afterward, Bird Village even receives a new announcement:

 From this point onward, the residents of the village have officially authorized Kingfisher and Hawk to guard the “poisonous” tree. Any bird who violates the rule will not have to wait for Death to collect the tax—the guards themselves will peck their heads open first!

From this point onward, the residents of the village have officially authorized Kingfisher and Hawk to guard the “poisonous” tree. Any bird who violates the rule will not have to wait for Death to collect the tax—the guards themselves will peck their heads open first!

(*)Note: Kingfisher getting drunk from ripe mulberries previously appears in Kingfisherish Wandering [1]. However, this is the first time the story has been told in Wild Wise Weird [2].

References

[1] Nguyen, M. H. (2026). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://books.google.com/books?&id=0WGOEQAAQBAJ

[2] Vuong, Q. H. (2025). Wild Wise Weird. https://books.google.com/books?&id=rq82EQAAQBAJ