Edgar the Eaglet (continued)

The time came when his sisters were learning to fly, that Edgar knew that it was going to be his turn soon. Edgar became very sad and anxious. His parents noticed that he had changed. One day his mother took him aside, to talk to him. “What is troubling you, Edgar?” she asked, “You seem worried and sad.”

“I am worried about flying.” He replied. “I am worried that if I go over the edge, I will disappear like the twigs that my sisters told me about. I want to stay right here, in the middle of the nest, where it is safe and warm.”

“Yes, we are really high up,” his mother answered, “but there is a reason for living up so high, we need to be high up so that we can rise above the clouds. If you stay here in the nest you will miss many wonderful experiences, Edgar. You will never feel the cold clear mountain air rushing in and around your wings. You will never see the millions of shades of colour as you pass over hills and valleys or the white starlike beauty of the snow on the mountain peaks; you will never fly over a mountain lake, whose water is so clear, you can see the schools of different fish; you will never find that brook whose water is so fresh it sparkles and dances in your mouth; or hear the sound of the mud flats going blop, blop blop."

The sounds made Edgar giggle.