Story of an Eagle and a Chicken

Here's a story of a young boy who ventured into the mountains one day, climbing higher through the pines and valleys until he reached a ledge that overlooked the vast range around his farm home. There he saw a nest with two eggs.

Feeling brave, he reached down and took one of the eggs in his hands, slipped it into his pocket, then proceeded back down the mountain to his home to see what would hatch. After several months, a man was driving past the farm when he noticed a large eagle posted on a fence near the barn. Amazed by the creature, he stopped to take a closer look. The boy approached, unsure of what was so fascinating. “Where did you get this eagle,” asked the man. The boy replied, “it’s not an eagle. It’s a chicken.” With a laugh, the man took the eagle onto his arm and said, “Rise up, fly, you are an eagle.” The eagle hopped down to the ground and pecked at the sand. Determined to show the boy what grand creature he had found, the man climbed a ladder to the roof of the barn with the eagle perched on his arm and once again told the bird, “Rise up, fly, you are an eagle.”

The eagle flapped its wings, jumped to the ground and pecked away once again. Finally, the man asked the boy to follow him to the mountains. They hiked backed to the ledge, just as the sun was rising. The man raised the bird once again and said, “Rise up, fly, you are an eagle.” The eagle spread its massive wings, looked out over the mountains with a majestic last look at the boy and regally soared across the valley up over the pines, gliding with pride. Sometimes we don’t know or see what we are capable of.

The story of the eagle and the chicken reminds us that we are what we believe we are. If we believe we can spread our wings and soar high, there’s no reason that we can’t. By thinking big and refusing to accept the limits that we, or others, have placed on us, we can achieve things we never even dreamed possible.

Rise up, fly, you are an eagle.