A man found an eagle's egg and put it in the nest of a backyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All his life the eagle did what the backyard chickens did, thinking he was a backyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air like the chickens. After all, that is how a chicken is supposed to fly, isn't it?
Years passed and the eagle grew very old. Once day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. It floated in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he said to his neighbour.
"That's the eagle, the king of the birds," said his neighbour. "But don't give it another thought. You and I are different from him."
So the eagle never gave it another thought. He died thinking he was a backyard chicken.
Karen's Corner
