The old eagles never
appeared again, and she alone had to procure for the eaglet all the food
he needed. She gave him fish and frogs and he did not seem to fare badly
on this diet, but grew big and strong. He soon forgot his parents, the
eagles, and fancied that Akka was his real mother. Akka, in turn, loved
him as if he had been her own child. She tried to give him a good
bringing up, and to cure him of his wildness and overbearing ways.
After a fortnight Akka observed that the time was approaching for her to
moult and put on a new feather dress so as to be ready to fly. For a
whole moon she would be unable to carry food to the baby eaglet, and he
might starve to death.
So Akka said to him one day: "Gorgo, I can't come to you any more with
fish. Everything depends now upon your pluck--which means can you dare
to venture into the glen, so I can continue to procure food for you? You
must choose between starvation and flying down to the glen, but that,
too, may cost you your life."
Without a second's hesitation the eaglet stepped upon the edge of the
nest. Barely taking the trouble to measure the distance to the bottom,
he spread his tiny wings and started away. He rolled over and over in
space, but nevertheless made enough use of his wings to reach the ground
almost unhurt.
Down there in the glen Gorgo passed the summer in company with the
little goslings, and was a good comrade for them.
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