But it went very much
against her not to succour a deserted young one so far as she could.
"Why do you sit there and stare?" snapped the eaglet. "Didn't you hear
me say I want food?"
Akka spread her wings and sank down to the little lake in the glen. A
moment later she returned to the eagles' nest with a salmon trout in her
bill.
The eaglet flew into a temper when she dropped the fish in front of him.
"Do you think I can eat such stuff?" he shrieked, pushing it aside, and
trying to strike Akka with his bill. "Fetch me a willow grouse or a
lemming, do you hear?"
Akka stretched her head forward, and gave the eaglet a sharp nip in the
neck. "Let me say to you," remarked the old goose, "that if I'm to
procure food for you, you must be satisfied with what I give you. Your
father and mother are dead, and from them you can get no help; but if
you want to lie here and starve to death while you wait for grouse and
lemming, I shall not hinder you."
When Akka had spoken her mind she promptly retired, and did not show her
face in the eagles' nest again for some time. But when she did return,
the eaglet had eaten the fish, and when she dropped another in front of
him he swallowed it at once, although it was plain that he found it very
distasteful.
Akka had imposed upon herself a tedious task.
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