Crow lived in the rafters.
“You must go out and do good works. God demands it.”
His arms out wide, Samuel spoke to the emptiness of the church. Crow listened attentively.
“Man is inherently good for he is alive but he lapses into sin again and again. Why did God give man the capacity to do sin? It is because there is goodness in choice. Without choice, man would be an automaton, a slave to his instinct, wandering the world with an empty soul.”
Samuel died. Crow went to visit his grave.
An egg lay nearby.
Snake slithered over.
“Stop,” Crow said, “do not eat that egg!”
“Why not? It is my nature,” Snake said.
Crow thought. He did not know what to say. He believed it was good to save the egg because he came from an egg. Guarding the egg was a good deed.
Crow looked at Snake. His talons gripped the gravestone.
“I cannot stop you,” Crow said. “At the very least I implore you to look inside yourself and make a choice whether to eat the egg or not.”
Snake replied, “I have no say in the matter,” and ate the egg.