The Eagle That Was Raised as a Chicken

A man found an eagle's egg and put it in the nest of a brooding hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. For all his life, the eagle did what the chickens did: he clucked and cackled, scratched the dirt for seeds and insects, and flew in a brief flutter of wings for a few feet. He believed he was a chicken. Years passed, and the eagle grew very old. One day, he saw a magnificent bird soaring on the thermal currents high above. "What is that?" he asked a nearby chicken. "That is the Eagle, the king of all birds," the chicken clucked. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth—we are chickens." The eagle looked up at the sky, and then back at the ground. He never looked up again. He lived and died a chicken, for that is what he thought he was. The story is told to ask: If you are born an eagle but raised to believe you are a chicken, are you not still an eagle?