The Boy Who Loved Eagle - A Modern Traditional
Posted on 9th May, 2008 in FictionThere once was a young boy who dreamed of Eagles. When the other boys were off playing or learning the bow with their uncles, he could usually be found under a tree, lying on his back staring up at the sky. The other boys cried “Oh, you are such a foolish one. When you are a man, how will you be able to serve the people. Come. Put away your childish dreams and join us.” But the boy always said no and went back to staring up at the sky. Even his mother and father were concerned, and said “Oh, how can you do this? How can you shame us in front of the people? Why doyou not fish and hunt like the others? What shall we do when we are old with no one to take care of us?” But the boy paid them no mind and did not lower his eyes from the sky.
The years passed and in the fullness of time, the boy became a man. Unable to bear his mother’s critical words, he learned the bow as others did.
One day, he was hunting the elk and he heard a soft sound, like the sighing of a young girl. He followed the sound and found a beautiful golden eagle with a broken wing. The young man and the eagle stared at each other, each taking the other’s measure. Then the young man wrapped the eagle in his robe and took it back to his lodge. The people scattered before him, for the eagle is a sacred bird and they feared its anger. But the young man paid them no mind and took the eagle into his lodge and cared for it. He hunted for it while it’s broken wing mended. And he talked to it all the time.
And he said, “Oh, I love you eagle. I have loved you for a long time, your beauty, your grace, your spirit. Surely there are none who love you as I”. And the eagle cried. Great tears
dampened her feathers. And the young man feared he had made her unhappy. But the eagle said, “It is not you but the fates, for I have loved you as well. For a long time I have looked down from the clouds to see you lying there looking back. But it cannot be, for I am a child of the air and you are a child of the earth. I cry for the young I will never bear, for an eagle gives their heart but once and surely mine belongs to you.” And now the young man was very sad for he knew she was right, it could not be, and soon she would be well enough to go from him.
Now one of the other young men had heard this and told the others who began to jeer at him crying “Oh, but you are such a foolish one. Do you think that eagle will keep your household? Will she mend your bowstring? Will she prepare your meals and care for your mother? ” And the young man’s mother and father counciled him saying, “Oh, what good can come of this thing? How can it benefit the people? Will you shame us this way? Take your eyes from the sky and cast them on one of the beautiful maidens of our tribe so we may have grandchildren.” And the young man was ashamed. With each passing day, eagle grew stronger. And finally the day came when she could spread both of her magnificent wings and take to the sky. And she said, “I must leave you now, but I will always remember this time we had together. There is a bond between us. Know that I will always be yours. Take from each of my wings, a feather, to be a symbol of our love. And in your dreams may you take flight to join me.”
And the young man did this and he placed the feathers in his medicine bag.
The years passed and the young man grew to full manhood. He did not wed but devoted himself to the service of his tribe. And each night he would take the two feathers from his medicine bag and place them on the ground beside him before he slept.
And then one day, na hollo, the white man came. He killed the young men of the people. He made slaves of their women and children. He took the land. And soon there was but a handful of the people left and they had been pushed to the edge of a great precipice. They had no food and no weapons. The children were hungry and the elders were sick. In a few more steps, they would be no more. They looked into the eyes of na hollo, the white man, and it was like looking into a bottomless pit. And the people knew it was the end.
Just then there was a great cry and a shadow fell over the land. The people looked up and the sky was dark with eagles. Some carried great boulders and these they dropped on na hollo, driving them back from the people, until the enemy ran away in fear. Some of them carried game, rabbits, squirrel and the like, and these they dropped into the cooking pots of the people so the children would not know hunger. And some carried raindrops on their backs and these they dropped upon the people so they would no longer know thirst. And one flew down to the ground and cried out, “There is a bond between us. Let those who have spoken out against you be silent. Have I not prepared you a meal and cared for your mother? Have I not tended your weapons and prepared them for battle? Have I not kept your household? Surely this has benefited the people.” And everyone was silent for they knew it was so.
At last eagle spread her wings and rose in the wind currents. The man cried out “Wait! Please wait.” and he reached into his medicine bag and removed the two feathers. He placed one under the arm band on his right arm and the other under the arm band of his left arm. He turned to his mother and father.
“There is a bond between us.”, he said. Then he threw himself off the precipice.
A great wailing and weeping arose among the people, for they knew they had driven him to this with their lack of understanding. But then the man’s father cried out, “Look!” And they did and saw that the man had fallen only a little way and now he rose on the wind current. The feathers under his arm bands were growing longer and more plentiful. Soon they covered his
whole body. And then there were two golden eagles in the clear summer sky. Wingtip to wingtip they circled the people once, then they flew together to the west and were seen no more.
And this is why the people with always have a bond with the golden eagle.
