The female eagle does something very interesting. It breaks a twig from some tree or shrub, picks it up in its beak, rises high and begins to circle around. Then male eagles start flying around the female, as it drops the twig looking carefully at what is happening. One of the males catches the twig in the air and gently brings it to their chosen one. The female eagle picks the twig and drops it once again. Then, a new candidate picks it up and brings it to the female… This action is repeated many times, and if by any chance, the same eagle catches the twig and brings it back a couple of times, the female chooses exactly that one for a partner.

Why the female does that, you will understand in a minute…

Then, the new couple settles high on a rock. The male and the female make a nest of sticks, and from their own flesh, they begin to tear off feathers to cover the nest so that there are no holes and it is warm and cosy. Right there, in the soft and warm nest, the female eagle sits on its eggs, waiting for them to hatch.

When the eaglets hatch (and they come to our world so small, stark naked, and infirm), their parents cover them with their bodies until they become stronger. They shelter them with their wings and protect them from the rain and the blazing sun. They bring them water and food until the eaglets are old enough and their feathers begin to grow, and their wings and tails are not that fragile. And though they are still small, they have become full-fledged, and Mom and Dad see that it is now time …

The father stands at the end of the nest and starts hitting it with its wings, shaking the whole thing. But why?

The answer is simple – to throw away all the excess feathers, leaving only the rigid frame of branches which was initially interweaved. In that time, the eaglets stand still, but they are uncomfortable and do not understand what is going on: after all, through all that time, mom and dad have been nice and carrying. When all this happens, the female eagle flies around, catching fish. Then, it lands somewhere far from the nest, where its eaglets cannot see it, and rests for a moment. Finally, the mother goes to its children and starts eating quietly. The little ones squeak hungrily, not knowing what is happening: the nest is stiff, the feathers are gone, and Mom does not give them fish …

What should they do now? They are hungry and have to come out of the nest. Slowly, the little ones start moving in a way they had never been able to move before. Of course, they wouldn’t do it if their parents took care of them like they used to, but … The eaglets start crawling around the nest. Then one of the eaglets falls because it still does not know much about this world and how to survive in it. The nest is located on a steep cliff so that it can be protected from approaching predators. The small eaglet falls from this slope and then flies into the abyss.

That’s when the father (the one who used to catch the twigs in the air) rushes down and grabs its baby, protecting it from death. Then, it throws it on its back and once again brings it to the uncomfortable nest, where everything starts all over again. The eaglets fall, and their daddy catches them and saves them from certain death …

The male eagle catches its children, and none of them disappears into the abyss. And then, suddenly, the small unskilled thing starts to do something it had never done before: it spreads its tiny wings, falls into the air stream, and even though, with fear, it starts to fly. This way, eagles teach their little ones how to fly, and as soon as one of them learns, they take it with them and start showing it the places where it can fish. They no longer bring it food in their beaks.

You are probably asking yourselves, why did I tell you this story. I did it because it is an excellent example of how we should educate our young heirs, spiritually, and physically. It shows us how important it is not to keep them in the warm nest for too long, how we should not feed them with too much fish when they are already old and strong enough to catch it on their own! But at the same time, this story is an example of how patient, carrying and loving we need to be, how we should devote all our energy, time, and wisdom to them so that they could learn how to fly.

And yes, it is not a coincidence that the female eagle chooses its partner, casting a twig. One day, the female is going to be a mother, and someone should save its eaglets from the abyss. If the father is careless and cannot catch them in time, they will die. When eaglets hatch, they are always a few, one or two…

Author: V. Zhemchug