Week 12 Reading: Part C of Eastern Stories and Legends

 These reading notes are for Week 12 Eastern Stories and Legends (Part C)

The Hawk and The Osprey

There are a few characters 

on the shores of a natural lake: 

A Hawk on the south shore 

a She-Hawk on the west shore

on the north, a Lion (king of beasts)

on the east, the Osprey (king of birds)

in the middle on an island, a Tortoise

The hawk on the south shore asks the she-hawk on the west shore to be his wife. She asks the hawk if she has any friends. The hawk didn't have any friends, but the she-hawk asks him to find friends incase trouble were to arise. 

The hawk asks his future wife where he could even find any friends at. 

She tells him that he can make friends with the tortoise, osprey, and the lion. He does exactly that. The creatures and the hawk all form a bond of friendship and promise to protect each other in times of trouble! 

The she-hawk turns into a mother-hawk when she has two sons who weren't quite able to fly yet. During this time, there were hunters foraging and looting the woods, but they did not find anything. The gentlemen went down to the natural lake where all the animals reside in order to catch a fish or tortoise. Gnats were bothering the gentlemen so they started a fire near the shore of the natural lake. The smoke coming from the fire was bothering the young birds of the mother-hawk. The babies cried because of the irritable smoke. The men heard the uttered cry and decided to eat birds instead. The mother-hawk was aware that the men wanted the young, so she sent the father-hawk to the osprey for protection. 

The osprey was able to use its large wings to continuously put the fire out with the water from the natural lake. The men kept starting the fire back up and the osprey was beginning to get fatigued and with bloodshot eyes from the irritable smoke. The grateful hawk told the osprey his job was finished. The father hawk went to the tortoise for help, and he sent his son for protection. The tortoise used mud to throw at the fire and to put it out. Because of this, the men now wanted to eat the tortoise since it would be enough food for them all. The tortoise was smart and relentless and dragged the men all the way into the water and now they were all soaked. 

The men decided to step back and wait until the morning to eat the hawks. Mother-hawk over heard this conversation, thus she sent the father-hawk for the king of beasts, the Lion. 

The father hawk did exactly that. The lion questioned the strange time of day for the troubles, but he told the father-hawk to protect his young ones and he will take care of the men. 

The lion came at the men with a "mighty-tread" and they became terrified. The lion stood at the foot of the tree where all the hawks were. No men were now seen in sight after they scattered like mice. 

The osprey, the hawk, the she-hawk, and the tortoise all came to the lion after the troubles. They spoke on friendship and it's value for a minute. They continued their day to day lives without breaking their worthy bond of friendship. They passed away according to their deeds. 

An image of an Osprey from nps.gov. 

Bibliography: Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock