Travel by goose

Chapter 10 Old Eagle Golgo

In the valley of Lapland Province in northern Sweden, there is an old nest built by carvings.It stands on a rock jutting out of the cliff and is built of layers of pine branches pressed together.The nest has been enlarged and strengthened over the years and is now two or three meters long.

Below the cliff where the bird's nest is located is a large valley, where a flock of wild geese lives in the summer.This canyon is an ideal habitat for them. It is located deep in the mountains and is very hidden.There is a small circular lake in the middle of the canyon, where there is a lot of food for wild geese.Geese find ideal nesting grounds on the rugged lake shores, where willow groves and dwarf birches grow.

For a long time, the eagles lived on the cliffs above, and the geese lived in the valleys below.The old eagles take away a few wild geese every year, but they can do enough to prevent the wild geese from moving away from the canyon.For the wild geese, the presence of the old eagle is not without benefits, as it deters other natural enemies from approaching the canyon.

During the first two years when the little boy roamed with the wild geese, Eka stood in the canyon every morning and looked at the old eagle's nest.Every morning the eagles went out to hunt shortly after sunrise, and Aika waited for them to come out, to see whether they would stay in the canyon and hunt, or go elsewhere.

One morning, without waiting long, she saw two large birds leave the cliff and head for the plain below.Aika breathed a sigh of relief.

Aika has stopped laying eggs and raising young birds. During the long summer, she is busy flying from one goose nest to another, keeping an eye on old eagles, foxes and other enemies that threaten the life of wild geese.

At noon, Aika began to monitor the old eagle. To her surprise, the old eagle did not fly back as before.In the afternoon, she looked up the cliff again, but the old eagles did not come back.In the evening, when the old eagles were supposed to take a bath in the lake, they had not yet appeared.Aika was deeply surprised.

Aika woke up early the next morning, but she still didn't see the old eagle.Instead, from their nests on the rock came a mournful cry. "What happened, I have to go and see." Eka immediately spread his wings and flew up to the sky above Eagle's Nest.She didn't see two big birds on it, but only a half-naked young vulture screaming with hunger.

Ika suppressed his fear and disgust, and fell to the edge of the eagle's nest.The nest was full of bird bones and bloody feathers, and among the filth lay the young eaglet with its mouth wide open, crying, "Someone has come at last! Get me something to eat!"

"But what about your parents? Don't they prepare food for you?" Aika asked.

"They went out yesterday morning, and they haven't come back yet. The mouse I left for me has already been eaten by me."

Aika realized that the old vulture couple must have been beaten to death.She thought that if she let the young eagle starve to death, she would be free from the robbers forever.However, at this moment, her conscience does not allow her to leave the little eagle alone.

Eka spread her wings and flew towards the small lake in the canyon.After a while, she returned to the old eagle's nest with a small fish in her mouth.

When she put the fish in front of the vulture, the vulture was very angry. "Do you think I'll eat this?" he yelled, pushing the fish aside and pecking at Eika. "Get me a Thunderbird or a Mouse! Do you hear me!"

Aika stretched out her head and twisted the young eagle's neck severely. "I'll get you food, and you'll have to eat what I can find! Your parents are dead, they can't support you. If you have to wait to eat ptarmigans and rats, you'll just lie here and starve to death. "

After Aika finished speaking, she flew away immediately.She came back after a long time.The eaglet ate up the fish, and when Ika put another fish in front of him, he ate it up in two bites.

The pair of old vultures never appeared again, and Aika had to find food for the young vultures.She gave him fish and frogs to eat, and the chick grew so big and strong that he soon forgot his parents and thought Ika was his mother.Eka named him "Gorgo" and tried his best to give him a good education and overcome his wildness and pride.

After two or three weeks, Aika found that it was time for her to lose her hair and not be able to fly.She will not be able to bring food to the young eagle for a whole month, so he will starve to death.

"Gorgo," Eka said to the eaglet, "I can't bring you food anymore. You have to forage for yourself. Now spread your wings and fly!"

The young eagle walked to the edge of the nest without thinking, spread its wings and flew out.He rolled a few times in the air, but still used his wings well and landed quite safely.

Gorgo spent the summer with the young geese in the canyon and became their good companion.Because he thinks of himself as a baby goose, he tries his best to live like them.When the wild geese went swimming in the lake, he followed him until he almost drowned.He was ashamed and asked Eka, "Why can't I swim like everyone else?"

"You're lying on the cliff, and your claws are too crooked, and your toes are too long," said Aika. "Don't be sad about it, you'll be a good bird."

After the young eagle learned to fly, he soon became a champion of the sport.His partners could barely stay in the air for a while, but he spent almost all day practicing flying skills in the air.Although he didn't know that he and the geese were not in the same family, he found many things that surprised him. "Why do the ptarmigan and the mouse run away and hide from my shadow on the hill? They are not so afraid of the other geese!" he asked Aika.

"Your wings grew too big when you were lying on the cliff," said Aika. "Your wings frightened the little birds, but don't be sad about it. You'll make a good bird."

After the eagle could fly, he learned to catch fish and frogs to eat by himself, but soon he began to think about such a thing. "Why do I live on fish and frogs?" he said, "but not the other geese."

"It's because I have nothing else to feed you when you're lying on the cliff," said Aika. "But don't be sad about it, you'll make a good bird."

When the geese migrated away in autumn, Gorgo followed, and the sky was full of birds going south.There was a vulture among Eika's geese, which caused a great stir among the birds.Around the flock of geese, there are always flocks of curious birds circling around, loudly expressing surprise.

"Why do they call me a vulture?" Gorgo kept asking, and growing angry. "Can't they see that I'm a wild goose?"

One day, when they flew over a farm, many chickens looked up and saw the eagle, and shouted: "Old eagle! Old eagle!" and ran away to hide.But Gorgo could no longer contain his anger, and knowing that the vulture was a savage villain, he folded his wings angrily, rushed to the ground, and grabbed a hen. "I want you to know that I'm not an old vulture!" he said, pecking her.

He immediately heard Aika calling him from above, and obediently flew into the sky. "What have you been doing?" cried Ika, and began to peck him with her beak. "Are you going to kill that poor hen?" But when the vulture did not fight back and let Ika teach him a lesson, it flew around them. The bird sneered and sarcastically.

The eagle heard their cries and flew into the sky angrily.He flew so high that he could not even hear the voices of others calling him.

Three days later he returned to the flock of geese.

"Now I know who I am," he said to Ika. "Because I am a vulture, I have to live like a vulture. We are still friends, and I will not hurt you."

Aika couldn't tolerate the vulture's change. She always wanted the vulture to be a tame and harmless bird, but now she was disappointed. "I won't be friends with birds of prey!"

Both sides are very proud and stubborn, and neither will budge.As a result, Eka did not allow Gorgo to appear by her side anymore, nor did he allow anyone to mention his name.

From then on, Gorgo wandered all over the country.He is brave and ferocious, but he never attacks wild geese.

When Gorgo was three years old, he was captured by hunters and sold to a park.He and two other vultures were put together in a cage made of steel bars and wires.They were motionless from morning to night, staring hopelessly into the distance, their beautiful light black feathers fluffing and losing their luster.

One morning Gorgo stood there, as usual, dumbfounded.Suddenly he heard someone calling his name on the ground below. "Who is calling me?" He asked listlessly without even raising his eyelids.

"Gorgo, it's me. Thumb that flies with Eika's geese."

"Could it be that Aika was also arrested?" Gorgo asked weakly.

"No, Eka and her flock of geese must have arrived at their destination safely - Lapland in the north. Only I am imprisoned here."

While the boy was talking, Gorgo had been staring blankly into the distance.

"Gorgo, you helped me and spared the gander's life, I will help you too!"

"Don't disturb me, I am standing here, dreaming that I am flying freely in the sky." Gorgo said.

"My God, he forgot to run away," thought the little boy. "I have to file the barbed wire that keeps Gorgo in the middle of the night and let him fly back into the blue sky."

Late at night, when all the vultures were fast asleep, the little boy began to file the wire mesh.Gorgo heard the noise and woke up. "You're no good filing like that. I'm a big bird. How many wires do you have to file before I can get out? You'd better stop and let me be quiet for a while."

"Go to sleep and leave me alone! I can't finish this night, and I can't finish it tomorrow night, but I will keep working until you can fly out." The little boy said.

The little boy filed for several days.One morning, he woke Gorgo, "Try it now!"

The eagle looked up and saw that there was a big hole in the wire mesh. He spread his wings and flew over there.He failed to fly a few times and fell into the cage, but finally he managed to fly out.

He spread his strong wings and flew into the sky.Thumb sat there, looking at him with a sad face, how he longed for someone to let him go.He fell into the sea, was picked up and sold to the old man guarding the park - Lars.Lars made an agreement with the little boy that he would be responsible for taking care of the little boy. When he delivered food to the little boy in a white bowl, the little boy would stay in the park, and when he delivered food in a blue bowl, the little boy could leave.But Lars left the park suddenly. Before leaving, he forgot to put a blue bowl, so that the little boy could be free again.

In this way, the little boy has always abided by the original agreement and did not leave the park.All the time he longed to be back with the gander and the geese. "If I were not bound by my promise," he thought, "I could well find a bird to send me to them."

That night, more than ever, the little boy wanted to be free.Now came the fine season, when the weather was warm, the grass was green, the birches and poplars had leaves that shone like satin, and the cherry and fruit trees were in full bloom. "Lapland must be warm and beautiful now," thought the little boy, "how I long to ride on the back of a gander and admire the land adorned with green grass and delicate flowers on such a clear morning!"

While he was sitting there dreaming, the eagle plunged straight down from the air and flew to the boy. "I was just trying the wings," said Gorgo, "and I will not leave you alone. Now ride on my back and let me carry you back to your traveling companions!"

"No, no!" the little boy refused, "I have promised to wait until I am released."

"What nonsense are you talking about!" said Gorgo. "First they forced you here, and then they forced you to promise to stay here! You should understand that such promises are not kept."

"No, I have to keep it," said the little boy. "You can't help me."

"I can't help?" Gao Leguo said, "You will know soon." In a blink of an eye, he grabbed Nils with his claws and rushed to Jiuxiao, flying to the far north.

The eagle flew and flew, flew to a forest far away, and let go of the little boy.As soon as the little boy felt that he had been let go, he started running back as fast as he could.The eagle leapt, caught up with the boy, and held him down with one paw. "Do you still want to go back?"

"I can go wherever I want, you don't care!" said the little boy, trying to break free.The old eagle held him tightly with his strong claws, spread his wings and flew away to the north.

The old eagle took the little boy and flew to the bottom of a waterfall, and put the little boy on a stone in the middle of the river.The little boy understood at once that there was no escape here: there were waterfalls pouring down like curtains above, and the surrounding river rushed forward in sharp eddies.He was so annoyed that the eagle had made him a dishonest man in this way, and he turned his back to the eagle, not wanting to say a word.

Eagle told the little boy about his quarrel with his adoptive mother, Ika, and asked the little boy to mediate between them.

The little boy understood that the eagle did not kidnap him because of his stubbornness, so his attitude softened. "I can help you," he said, "but I am still bound by my promise." At this moment he told Gorgo about the agreement between himself and old Lars.

"Listen to me, Thumb," said the eagle, "I can take you wherever you want, and I can help you find whatever you want. Tell me, what old man Lars looks like, I will try to find him, send you to his side, and then you can persuade him to release you, won't everything be fine?"

"Great!" said the little boy.He described the appearance of old Lars in great detail.

"You can talk to the old man tomorrow before it gets dark," said Gorgo.

Sure enough, Gorgo found the old man Lars in the evening of the next day, and he promised to set the little boy free.

(End of this chapter)