“A pair of magpies and a pair of crows simultaneously came to the back porch to ask us if we’d give them more food. Two days of cold rain, and they are suddenly cut off from the easy summer insect fare they’d gotten used to. The crows brought us a red bottlecap to sweeten the deal, soaring right into our line of vision, dropping it on the ground, then perching to watch whether we’d take it. We did, and then we brought some more kibble out to the park for them.” — Ryan HeavyHead

To anyone who wasn’t paying attention, this might merely seem cute or friendly. But think about this carefully. The crows know -this particular human- relates with birds. They are hungry. They want to communicate, but direct communication is far too dangerous, and they are deeply habituated to avoid it. Additionally, their enemies, the magpies, are present with the human, or nearby.

So what do they do? They demonstrate their understanding of humans.

Humans trade things for food. They are not friends in trading. They do not talk friendship. Tokens are involved. Some are shiny and round. The paper kind do not make sense. But the shiny round kind, do. We will bring the man the shiny round token-of-exchange. And see if it works. They tried it. It worked.

And thus two universes meet.