The King of the Birds plucked one golden feather from his tail and gave it 
to a soldier, who took it in his beak, flew over the lava, and left that 
feather on the very top of the black rock. By the time that soldier flew back, 
he was half roasted from the heat radiating from the lava—and don't 
think my mouth didn't water! "Your job," said the King, "is to bring me that 
feather."