This was posted by Steve Irvin on alt.callahans. The author is unknown. Many variations have popped up in the last couple of years.

The leader of the vultures had only one child, a boy who was known as “troublesome”. Although the others wouldn’t dare mention it to the Chief, he,too knew there was a problem.

One day the Chief called his son and said, “It’s time you learned how to earn your way in the world”.

The boy, in his recalcitrant way said, “Yeah, whatever,” and they flew off. The boy saw some ripe berries and said to his father, “Look, food!”

The father replied “No, those are not for us”. They flew a little farther and the boy saw a rabbit running on the ground. The boy said, “Hey, Pop, what about that?”

Again, the father said “No, that’s not for us”.

Finally the boy’s patience was gone, and he said “We can’t eat fruit, we can’t eat live meat, what the hell are we supposed to eat?”

With infinite patience, the father replied:

“Carrion, my wayward son.”