One day he was with his fellow chicken picking seeds off the ground when a shadow covered the sky above him. He lifted his gaze and was mesmerized by the sight of a beautiful eagle cruising the sky. Unlike other chicken that he saw trying to fly, this eagle didn’t seem to be making much effort. With his wings spread wide, he was flying smoothly and changing his direction with the slightest gesture.
“Wow. Look at that!”, yelled the young eagle to his friends. “Who is that?”, he asked. “That’s an eagle”, replied a chicken. “He’s the king of the sky. But we belong here on earth. We are chicken.”, she continued. And the eagle staring at the bird disappearing in the horizon as if it was gliding on an invisible path that only he could see.
Days later, the old eagle was flying again over the barnyard
and was stunned by the sight of an eagle running around with the chicken. He
surged down to the ground. As the other birds saw him they ran back to hide in
the house. He descended in front of the other eagle before he reached the door.
“What are you doing?”, asked the old eagle.
“What do you mean?”, answered the young one.
“What are you doing running around with chicken?”.
“I am a chicken. These are my brothers and sisters. I grew
up with them.”
“No you’re not. You’re an eagle. You belong in the sky, not
on the ground.”
“No I am not. I am one of them. All I know is to do as they
do, and to eat what they eat. I can’t even fly.”
“You can’t because you never tried. But you’re an eagle,
just like me”.
“Even if what you say is true, I’ve lived all my life as a
chicken. I am not an eagle anymore”.”
“It’s the heart of an eagle that matters, not the way he
lived or ate… Come with me”
The eagle took another look at his friends hiding in the
comfort of home. “Don’t listen to him!”, yelled one of the chicken. “He is
tricking you”,” said another. “ If you go with him, you will die!”. “ Come back
and be with us”…
But deep inside the eagle’s heart, a faint voice told him
what he needed to do. He took one more gaze at the barnyard where he spend all
his life playing with his friends, then turned around and followed the older
eagle.
A moment later, the young eagle arrived at the cliff he used to visit
sometimes with his friends. They stood next to each other on the edge looking
at the mountains in the distance. Without a second of hesitation, the old eagle
jumped off the edge, spread his wings and soared upward.
The young eagle looked down the cliff and trembled. He’d
never flown before. May be he would die. May be he should go back.
“Don’t look down.”, the old eagle said “Look up at the sky.
Aim toward the sun. Give it a bit of faith.”
The young eagle lifted his sight up, spread his wings and
leaped…
Back at the barnyard, the chicken heard a triumphant cry
that ascended to heaven. Their feather trembled and they looked at each other
without exchanging a word. They know they will miss their brother a lot. They
know he might visit some day and tell them how it felt to fly. And they will
gather around to hear his stories about the lands he visited. But for the time
being, they would keep doing what they did best: living as chicken.
Propers--Amir Khella
