A man raised an eaglet along with chickens after finding its egg. Though the eaglet grew large and could fly short distances, it acted and lived like a chicken, scratching the ground for food. Years later, an old eagle saw a majestic bird flying above and learned from others that it was truly an eagle, meant for the sky, but he died thinking of himself as a lowly chicken.

1. A man found an eagle’s egg and placed it under a brooding hen. The eaglet hatched with the chickens and grew to be like them.

2. He clucked and cackled. Scratched the earth for warms. Flapped his wings and managed to fly a few feet in the air.

3. Years passed. One day, the eagle, now grown old, saw a magnificent bird above him in the sky. It glided in graceful majesty against the powerful wind, with scarcely a movement of its golden wings.

4. Spellbound, the eagle asked, “who’s that?” “ that’s the king of the birds, the eagle,” said his neighbour. “He belongs to the sky. We belongs to earth, we’re chickens”.

5. From Tony de Mello’s ‘The Song of the Bird’ So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.