Fine Feathers

Each spring, the Eagles raised a clutch of eaglets, teaching them to fly, soar, hunt and support themselves. In time, the eaglets matured, found mates and made their own nests. Then they raised another generation of Eagles. Thus it had always been since time immemorial, longer than any Eagle could remember.

Each spring, the young eaglets would cling to their nests until they grew flying feathers over their baby down, and became strong enough to beat their wings. But one year, everyone noticed a young eaglet whose new feathers were exceptionally handsome. He had the most beautiful black and brown and purple and white feathers anyone had ever seen. As the gossip spread, Eagles would come from near and far just to take a look at that youngster's sleek, shiny feathers.

At first, the eaglet's parents were very proud of him, and showed him off whenever they could. They feasted and provided for the admiring guests. But one day, the eaglet's father started to complain about the extra burden of hunting for food and feeding all those guests who came by to stare. He began thinking that the guests should bring their own food while visiting the young eaglet. He was unsure how to approach this request, because up to then it had been the custom among Eagles to care for guests. But up to now, no Eagle had ever had so many guests. Eventually, Father Eagle began to drop hints among his friends, and complain about the cost of putting up so many visitors. He said he wasn't sure he could provide for all the guests, no matter how hard he worked. Many Eagles understood this; the young eaglet's fine coat was a very exceptional event. So, many of them began bringing their own food when coming to see the eaglet, but some Eagles did not. Father Eagle thought and thought about what to do while he was out on his ever-longer foraging missions. One day he struck upon a plan: he would set up a food table for the guests, and nearby he would put a bowl where they could leave offerings and gifts. No one had ever done this before, so Father Eagle didn't make it clear that anyone had to make an offering. But, little by little, visiting Eagles began to leave offerings. Many Eagles stopped bringing their own food, and just got food from the food table, taking care to leave a gift in exchange.

One day, seeing that his idea had worked and that many gifts were offered, Father Eagle had another inspiration. He thought one of the poor Eagles might go out foraging with him, if he gave the poor bird some food from his table. This was another thing that had never been done, as, up to now, Eagles always took care of themselves. It took many days to bring up the subject, but eventually Father Eagle asked a poor Eagle if he would go hunting with him to supply the offering table. At first the poor Eagle didn't know what to make of the request, but eventually understood he would get food from Father Eagle in exchange for the help. Thinking his problems getting enough food would be solved, the poor Eagle agreed to the plan.

From then on, the two went out hunting together. Father Eagle taught his assistant where to look for food, and helped him get better prey than he got alone. In a few days, the poor Eagle was eating more than ever before, and even catching more than he could eat. This is what Father Eagle had hoped would happen, as now his table was laden with more food than ever. Some weeks went by, and then it occurred to Father Eagle that he should get another assistant like the first one. He thought over all the Eagles he knew, and eventually decided another poor Eagle could help him. He approached that Eagle, and they agreed on an arrangement similar to the first.

Because Father Eagle's table was so splendidly set, now that he had two helpers putting food on it, more and more Eagles visited his house everyday. He decided to have the handsome young eaglet sit in a place just beyond the table, and arrange the offerings table so that visitors had to pass it by when they entered the Eagles' nest. He moved the food table to a place beyond the eaglet's sitting area, which was on the way out of his house. While at first there was some grumbling about this new arrangement, the Eagles soon got used to the idea of making offerings before seeing the young eaglet and get served food. After some months, this arrangement worked so well that Father Eagle was able to enlist more Eagles as helpers. Father Eagle didn't have to work anymore; he just assigned his helpers to foraging missions.

About this time, the young eaglet had grown so much that he was about to become a full fledged Eagle. A strange idea came over Mother Eagle. She began to wonder which female eaglet would be good enough for her splendidly coated son. No one had ever thought about this before. Now, when eagles came to the house, Mother Eagle began looking over the eagle families for a suitable arrangement. It had to be among those eagles who could afford the splendor of their changed circumstances. Eventually, a mate was found and their was a grand wedding. The new relatives were allowed to move next door, where they built a splendid nest.

Pretty soon the young Eagles had eaglets, which also had splendid coats of feathers. The new relatives decided to join in Father Eagle's ventures, and they all showed off their descendants who had fine coats. More and more eagles came to visit the larger Eagle family, and more and more of them moved nearer to the giant nests of the beautiful ones. More and more splendid nest were built. More and more time was spent preening and strutting and feasting. So things went for many years.

One spring, after a rather warm winter, the river did not flood. By summer, it was reduced to a trickle. The green valley dried up. The prey the eagles had hunted vanished.

By this time, almost all the eagles had forgotten how things used to be, except a few who lived far away from the valley. They had forgotten how to hunt, as they depended on their poor relatives to bring them food. Little by little, the latest arrivals to the eagle nesting grounds flew away. As the drought wore on, the beautiful eagles and their followers had less and less to eat. Eventually, even the poor assistants decided to leave and fend for themselves. This left Father Eagle and the older generation without help in feeding a large bevy of beautiful youngsters and maintaining their glorious nests. The strain was too much, and the old eagles were just too old. So, one by one, they didn't come back from their foraging missions. Later on, some of them were found near the dry river bed where, exhausted, they had fallen from the sky.

The young eaglets didn't know what to do, except display their beautiful feathers and accept gifts from admirers. They had never learned to hunt. So, one by one, they starved to death.

Much later, many eagles traveled to see the ruins of the old nests. They wondered what happened.