The Flying Friends: A Tale of Cooperation and Teamwork

In the bright light of a sunny morning, when all the world around was bright and peaceful, high above the plains an eagle was circling and dipping in the air. This was Charlie, the Charismatic Eagle. All of Charlie’s friends were watching him and admiring his masterly way of flying. Yes, Charlie was the best flyer among them; but he had a great longing to have his friends soar with him to the sky’s broad plains, high above the rushing winds and stormy tides.

So Charlie said to the Rooster, the Duck, and the Turkey, who were standing at the foot of a tower of clouds:

“You ought to learn to fly a little better. In that way we could all fly together times enough, and you could see some of the wonderful and beautiful sights I see.”

“But we can’t fly at all,” said the others in chorus.

“Why, yes you can,” said Charlie. “You can all fly a little. You try simply ruffling your feathers and jumping as hard as you can. You will find yourself raising yourself a little from the ground. The trouble is you don’t know just how to do it properly.”

So the friends all began and practiced ruffling their plumage and jumping as high as they could. Whether they jumped from above or below or came to the side or above, they each pressed the nearest one into attending to the ruffling of his feathers and jumping high.

Charlie perched upon one side of the tower of clouds and watched his friends as they hopped along, bending their necks down and puffing up their feathers. Soon Charlie discovered that it was putting them all in the worst of tempers, the Roo bylo T slming the Duck’s tail feathers by long jumps exactly above his head, and the Turkey charging first on one and then the other, as he declared so they could try if “flying upstairs was different from flying downstairs.”

But with all their practice they found they could not fly at all. So they took breath to see what they could do. They soon discovered that nothing could be done alone, because each one would hop off, and while practicing jump a little higher than the one below watched him separately. But when they all hopped on together one above the other the neighbors to the one in the middle could not lift up stepping on their toes.

But then it came into their minds to cry at once, “One two three,” and all jump together. By that means the bird upon the back in the lowest row would hardly press the toes of the one above him, but then his wings being open every one on top of him could spread his wings too.

Would you like to know the result? By hopping from one to three took Charlie some above as he could go and put him up. They had the first-run stooping down and lifting down on top and the other pressed up on underneath and the last one jump simply as it seems up in other words he only had to reach up, properly ruffle his feathers, and sit on the shoulders of the one above him.

So I think that the moral is, when we all, whether high or low in place, give each otherself busy lifting each other up no matter how low one may happen to hap if they would only practice helping each other he soon finds himself, high above hissing Tramwhere, wings outstretched to the breezes their highest in even the most difficult flight.

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