Don't underestimate yourself

Once a farmer found an egg in an abandoned nest. He brought the egg home and placed it among the hen's eggs. In due course of time when the egg hatched, a baby eagle came out. The baby eagle grew up with other chickens and was practically one among them.

Once a stranger visited the farm. He was horrified to see the eagle behaving like a chicken.

“This isn't right,” he said. “An eagle should be soaring the sky not picking worms in the garden.”

The farmer shrugged. “It doesn't matter. He thinks, he is a chicken. We can't make him fly.”

The stranger couldn't leave it at that. He took it upon himself to make the eagle understand its worth. The farmer did not oppose this.

He separated the eagle from the other chickens for some days, but nothing changed. It only led to the eagle turning sad and sulky. He tried explaining the eagle who didn't understand a thing.

He then, took the eagle on the roof of the house and let it stay there. However, instead of flying away, the eagle walked towards the edge of the roof and jumped down. The only flying, it did was to reach the ground. The eagle was already among its chicken siblings.

The stranger, finally took the eagle among the mountains. He climbed the mountain along with the bird and released it. The eagle looked frightened but as the sunlight warmed its wings, it calmed down and spread its wings. At first, the eagle could fly only a little bit but as the eagle's fears decreased and confidence increased, it went high in the sky as an eagle should.

There is nothing wrong in being a chicken but every earth-bound animal dreams of reaching out to the sky. The chicken might never realise the dream but an eagle isn't an earth-bound animal. Sky is its natural habitat. Unless you try to fly, you might never know what is natural for you. You might actually be an eagle who can easily achieve what others only dream. Don't underestimate yourself. It's better to be a chicken who tries to fly, high rather than being an eagle who already gives up.