who are you? Tom or Turk!

Once there was this chicken farmer who had a barnyard of white leghorn chickens. Hard times befell the farmer, and the chicken business wasn’t doing too well. A friend of the farmer came to him one day and said, "I have an idea how you can make yourself some extra money."

Of course, the farmer was all ears. The friend went on and said, "Up there in the mountains I spied an eagle last week. Now, if you set a trap for her and capture her, you can bring her down, show her off, and charge admission to see her."

The farmer thought that that was a good idea. So he built a big trap, went up in the mountain, and finally caught the eagle. He brought her down and tried to transfer her from the trap to a big viewing cage he had built. But the eagle was too used to freedom, so she bit him, she clawed him, she fought him every time he tried to get near the trap. The farmer became so angry he got his gun and killed the poor eagle who only wanted her freedom.

The friend came again, saw what had happened, and said, "Look, brother farmer. I believe that eagle laid a couple of eggs. Go get those eggs of hers, bring them down, and put them under one of your setting hens. Then, when the eggs hatch, those little eaglets won’t know who they are. They will think they are chickens, so they won’t fight back and bite you. They won’t claw you. They will be peaceful and calm because they won’t know who they are. Then you can show them off in that big viewing cage, charge admission to see them, and make yourself a whole lot of money."

The farmer got the eagle eggs and put them under one of his setting hens. In time, one of the eggs hatched, and a little eaglet came out. He didn’t know who he was. He thought he was a chicken. The farmer was happy. When he went near the little eaglet, the eaglet got frightened and ran away as fast as his little legs would carry him. The farmer called him Tom.

Tom ran around with the chickens and was very happy until one day he saw himself in the stream of water that ran through the barnyard. He saw he was not white like the chickens. He saw the feathers on his head did not lie down slick like the feathers on chickens’ heads. He became so ashamed of his color and his head feathers; he took some cream and rubbed it over his feathers to lighten them up. Then he put some on his head feathers to make them lie down. Now Tom felt happy that he was beginning to look more like a chicken.

By and by the other egg hatched. Now this eaglet broke bad when he came on the set. Somehow he got the nerve to stand his ground when the farmer stamped his foot. The farmer called him Turk. The other eagle, Tom, began coming over to give advice to Turk. "Here’s some cream to put on those feathers so you can lighten them like mine and the rest of our brother chickens. Then do something about that head. Do something."

When Turk refused and shied away, Tom whipped out a silk cloth. "Well, at least put this silk rag on your head to do something to those feathers up there."

But Turk said, "I kinda like my color and my head the way they are, thank you."

Tom turned away in disgust, and happily joined the other chickens in play, leaving poor Turk all by himself.

The only joy for poor, little, lonely Turk was in looking up at the sky for long periods of time, because somehow he felt that that was where he belonged.

One morning while he was looking up in the sky, a speck appeared. The speck got larger and larger until it became the largest bird he had ever seen. You and I know it must have been an eagle. Well, the eagle saw little Turk on the ground and came in on a branch overhanging the barnyard. The eagle looked down at Turk and said, "What are you doing down there with those chickens?"
"Why, I am a chicken," replied Turk.

The old eagle laughed, and said "You’re no chicken."

"Then what am I?" asked Turk.

"You’re an eagle."

"An eagle?" asked Turk. "What’s an eagle?"

"An eagle," bellowed the old eagle "is the ruler of the skies. Spread your wings and come up here on the branch so I can tell you who you are."

But poor little Turk, with tears in his eyes, said "I can’t. You know chickens can’t fly that high."

The old eagle became very angry at Turk. "I told you that you aren’t a chicken. You’re an eagle. Now spread those wings."

Turk spread his wings out, as far as he could spread them.

"Now flap them," said the old eagle.

Turk began flapping them, faster and faster, and to his surprise he rose higher and higher - higher than he had ever risen in his life - and came in on the branch beside the old eagle.

"Now settle down," said the old eagle, "and I will tell you who you are. I will tell you your history. Your father, as all eagles are, was king of the skies. No bird was as strong. No bird could fly as high or as far as your father without rest. And your mother, as queen of the skies, ruled the skies alongside your father. And you are their son."

"But, but, but what about my color?" asked Turk. "You see, the chickens are white, and I am deep brown."

"Don’t you know what that color represents?" asked the old eagle, "It represents royalty."

"That’s heavy," cried Turk. "But what about the way the feathers are on my head?"

"That’s your crown. I told you, you are a king."

"That’s deep," said the young eagle. "Let’s tell Tom." Spying Tom on the ground with the chickens, Turk called down, "Tom, Tom! This eagle up here is telling us about our history. It’s so beautiful." But Tom shouted back, "I don’t want to learn anything about our history, I’m too busy getting these crumbs off the ground. Anyway, you better come down out of that tree before you get us all in trouble."

The old eagle shook his head sadly. "Come; let us fly away to our destiny."

They took off. Pretty soon they flew over a deep valley. The young eagle was frightened. "We’ll fall."

But the old eagle smiled and said, "Don’t be afraid. You won’t fall. This is the Valley of Oppression. You will fly safely over the valley because you have the strength of kings in your wings. Fly on!" And they flew safely over the valley.

They came to a big desert. Again, the young eagle was afraid. "I don’t see any trees on which to rest." But the old eagle said, "This is the Desert of Mediocrity - the Desert of Don’t Care — the Desert of Only a C Average. But you don’t need to rest. You will fly safely over the desert because you have the strength of queens in your wings. Fly on!" And they flew safely over the Desert of Mediocrity.

But straight in front of them loomed a high mountain. Young Turk then asked, "Will we crash into the mountain?"

The old eagle smiled. "No we won’t crash. This is the Mountain of Injustice that we will fly safely over because we have the strength of the ancestors in our wings. Fly on!"

And both eagles, young and old, flew over the mountain.