Eagle and the Totem

Last year I had to write a folk tale. This is the exact folk tale I wrote and got a 98 on it.

As a hatchling Eagle had a bright yellow beak that was smooth all over. His beak had a small arch which dipped down into a point at the opening of his mouth. He had large wings which he tripped over as he walked. His very unwieldy wings had a distinct brown, which was as dark as mud. His body was also brown to match his wings. He had giant feet with huge talons. With these talons he could catch a wild adult salmon. Not only were his talons wide and long but they were also razor sharp.

When he caught a salmon he could fillet it just by having a light grasp on it. As a child his parents died horrifically. They were murder by a young lima bean green reptile with a long scaly tail that swished back and forth when he walked. Eagle woke up to a horrid scream that sounded of death. He saw the reptile chewing through his father's innards. Eagle was so terrified by what what he saw that he screamed fear. The reptile turned to look in the direction of the cry. The reptile's snout was covered in bright red blood and pink intestine. Afraid of who would respond to the child's cry, the reptile fled from the nest. As he fled his long whip like tail smacked Eagle in the face knocking him unconscious and leaving a small notch in his beak. 

When Eagle regained consciousness he ran oddly with his wings out towards his parents. When he got to his parents he saw the worst thing a young eagle could ever see. His mom was dead; her light brown feathers around her chest and stomach were now white and stained in dried blood. A scared look was frozen on her face. Eagle went to his father who suffered the same wounds but was just barely hanging on to life. 

"My son ... Come closer," said his father breathlessly. Eagle slowly walked towards his father. As he walked closer, his father's body started turning grey.

"Dad! What is happening to your body?" asked Eagle, frighten by the sight

"Son, I'm dying," replied his father, "My soul is leaving my body, I am getting ready to meet The Great Spirit, our Creator. Before I die I want you to have this." Eagle's father slowly opened his wing. Inside his wing was a small cream white stone. This stone had one light brown curl in the center of it. It looked as if someone had mixed snow with his mother's dried blood. 

"Dad, what is this?" asked Eagle while he looked intently at the small and very smooth stone. A few moments passed without an answer. "Dad?" asked Eagle afraid to look at his father, for he could be dead. He reluctantly lowered the stone to look upon his father. To his surprise he was no longer grey but white. His father's chest stopped bulging from the uneven gasps of breath. Tears began to well up in Eagle's eyes. "Mom, Dad, I will hunt down the murderer and kill him!" screeched Eagle with gut wrenching sobs. Thus, Eagle became an orphan and took care of himself. He foraged for his food, taught himself how to fly, and how to strike at others. Every night before he went to sleep he held up the small cream white stone next to the stars. While he looked upon the stone he remembered the helpless look on his father's face and the frightened look of a child's on his mother's face. Many moons passed and Eagle matured into his early teens

One night while Eagle looked upon the stone he saw a bright flash. he put the stone under his wing and looked at the sky intently. In the sky was his father's spirit. As he watched the spirit of his father he wondered if he should fly toward him. As soon as Eagle started to fly towards his father's bluish green spirit, the spirit moved toward the east., toward the frozen river. He followed his father's spirit and started to forget that horrible night. Suddenly his father's flying blue green body started to fade away. Eagle followed the spirit until it disappeared. 

Eagle landed and found himself in the middle of a snowy desert. another flash of light and three ribbons of yellow blue and green lights burst out of the sky. Then a deep voice boomed from the multi-colored ribbons of light. 

"Eagle," the voice said "Your father has told me much about you. I have also learned that you witnessed the horrible murder of your parents." 

Eagle nodded and said, "I am hunting their murderer."

"I, the Creator, wish you luck in your quest."

"Thank you, Great Spirit, but I do not know who killed them."

"I know who killed your parents."

"Please tell me who killed them!"

"It was Coyote. He sent Alligator to murder your parents because Coyote loved your mother. Once your father married your mother he decided they both needed to die. He is near the outskirts of the village. But be warned he has many minions that are very loyal to him." A long moment passed before Eagle pulled out his cream white stone.

"My father died before he could tell me what this was."

"That stone is called a focusing stone. It will block out all distractions and channel your anger and frustration from your worst memory. this will only happen as long it touches a part of your body. Now go west and defeat Coyote and Alligator." The lights dissipated into the starry night air.

Eagle took the Creator's advice and flew west to the stronghold of Coyote. As he flew towards the stronghold he held the stone close to his heart. He landed in a foot of snow on the west side of the village. He quickly hopped through the snow leaving behind a sloppy mess. 

"Halt, who goes there?" Eagle looked up and saw Alligator, the reptile with the same tail which had hit Eagle as a child. Eagle said nothing and flew toward Alligator with such speed and precision not even a hummingbird could dodge his deadly talons. With his talons poised to strike he flew into Alligator. Eagle's talons went through Alligator's thick scaly flesh like butter. Once his talons went inside the green flesh he clenched his talons into a tight ball. Alligator cried out in pain as Eagle took his balled talons out of Alligator's scaly flesh. Inside his talons were Alligator's most vital organs; his stomach and his heart. Two holes the size of softballs were on the scaly surface of his skin. He fell over on his back and started to turn grey., then white like the snowy desert around them. His soul went into the star filled sky. As Eagle hopped on by, three other beasts appeared; a bear, a beaver, and a heron. As Eagle was about to pounce on the three the heron spoke up and said

"Please don't hurt us, we surrender we do not want to end up like Alligator." Eagle let down his guard and listened to them. "Be careful, Coyote may be old but he is quick. He will find a way to kill you. For sparing us we will help somewhere down the path." After listening to the beasts he hopped off toward Coyote. After trudging through the snow for a long time a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Hello Eagle, I know you know who I am. I am the one that killed your parents." Coyote said snidely. Before Coyote could utter another word, Eagle leaped toward Coyote. But Coyote saw this coming and caught Eagle by the wing. He slammed Eagle on the ground with his meaty black paws. With his mouth he pulled the focusing stone away from Eagle and spat it out into the thick blanket of snow. Eagle lost everything; he could not think clearly anymore. Then Eagle saw his chance to get free. As Coyote bent down to gut Eagle and eat his innards, Eagle threw his head back and flung the sharp yellow beak into Coyote's eye.He pulled his beak out and with the beak came the eye. The glossy white goo coming from the eye shined brightly in the moonlit sky. When Coyote cried in pain he lifted one of his paws and started to claw at his empty eye socket. Without waiting for the other paw to come up Eagle started to run away. As he ran away the wing that was still under Coyote's paw broke in half. Eagle pulled it out from under the paw and ran to a dead cedar tree with a flat top. Eagle started to climb up the smooth dead tree. Feeling absolutely nothing his right wing it started to turn white. Once Coyote stopped crying in pain he bounded toward the cedar tree. When he got to the tree the bear, beaver, and heron circled the base of the tree and would not let him through. Eagle made it to the top of the tree and looked at his dead wing

Eagle could hear the Creator's voice in his thoughts. "Eagle you have shown bravery and courage in this battle of revenge. I will repair your wing but the feathers at the bottom of both your wings will be dead. However if you go to find the stone in the snow your wing will become dead and it will turn into ash and float away into nothingness because my magic is not that strong." Eagle agreed and lived on the top of the dead tree. One day a native of the land saw the sight of an eagle perched on top of a dead tree with three animals surrounding the base protecting it from a one-eyed coyote. He found another dead cedar tree near the village. He carved the Eagle on top and then carved the three animals each one below the other to show that they were the guardians. That is why to this very day Eagle is always at the top of the totem and there are at least three guardians protecting him.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy it. If you were there for the presentation you would love it even more especially the Creator :)