Week 11 Story: The Eagle's Revenge

Sam vs the Eagle

There once was a man named Sam.  Sam was a Cherokee, who lived on the Indian reservation in Oklahoma. He was known to all throughout the reservation as the hunter who provided food for all.  Not much was known about Sam, he kept to himself in a little shack out near the edge of the forest. One day when Sam was out in the forest, he came across a deer. “Finally,” he thought, “some food that I can bring back.” Sam pulled out his bow and arrow and steadied his aim at the head of the deer.  When Sam thought he was on target he let the arrow flow and no sooner had he let it go, that he had notched another arrow and let it fly towards his target.  Both arrows flew true and hit within an inch of each other. The deer was instantly killed and fell over with a loud thud. As Sam started to drag the deer back to the homes, he heard a loud screech.  He instantly looked up and saw an eagle diving at him, and he rolled out of the way.  The eagle came back around for another pass and this time scratched him across his back.  Sam proceeded to get his bow out and started to track the eagle as it came back for another round.  He released three arrows in rapid procession, and they all hit their mark.  The eagle fell out of the sky and when it hit the ground Sam heard a voice say, “Help me. Please.” As he went over to the eagle, he saw that it had normal human teeth instead of a beak. Sam decided that he must show the people back at home at this odd occurrence and set off.

Returning Home

When Sam got back from his hunting trip, he let the others know what had happened.  He showed them the eagle and pointed out the fact that it looked like it had human teeth instead of a beak.  The other villagers laughed him off and thought he was just trying to make a spectacle.  The villagers mocked him for a few minutes before demanding he turn over the eagle and the deer he had brought back.  He gave the deer to the villagers but told the crowd, “I will not give you this eagle.  Clearly, it is a special gift from our ancestors, and it should be properly buried.” The villagers yelled, “Loser! Coward! Give us the food we are starving!” Sam tried to walk away and give the eagle back to the woods when he found himself surrounded.  Two of the villagers grabbed his arms and another started to punch Sam in the stomach to get him to let go of the eagle so they could eat.  Eventually, Sam lost all his strength and dropped the eagle and fell to his knees weakened, and distraught.  The crowd left him on his knees and eventually he got up and wobbled back to his little shack. 

As night fell, and Sam lay recuperating on his little bed, he heard a knock at his door. Grimacing, he got up and opened the door.  In front of him stood this very tall and elegant man, who seemed to have an eagle feathered head dress on.  The man spoke, “My name is Eli.  I hear you are the man that shot my brother from the sky.” Sam realized that he had offended the eagle men, who he considered Gods of the sky, and fell to his knees.  Sam cried out, “I am so sorry! Your brother tried to kill me as I was carrying the deer back to camp.”  Eli paused for a minute and then said, “My brother always did a have a temper.  He always goes into a rage when he sees an animal get killed senselessly.” Sam then proceeded to tell Eli how the reservation had not eaten for about a week and they were desperate for food. Eli said that he would forgive him if he gave him the body of his brother so that he could be buried.  Sam let Eli know that he had tried to give it a proper burial but was held and attacked into giving up Eli’s brother. Eli thanked him for trying to be respectful and told him to not come out of the house until morning. Sam told him where his brother’s body was and Eli told him, “You are a friend to all forest creatures and the Eagle clan. You will not be hurt again.” Eli then proceeded to head toward the campfire.

Revenge

Eli came upon the campfire where the people were preforming an eagle dance. As he got closer, he saw that they were kicking his brothers head on the ground like some type of ball. Eli, becoming engaged, saw that they had no respect for his dead brother and proceeded to shift into a giant bald eagle. As the other villagers were having a great time dancing and being merry, they heard a loud screech in the distance. The party stopped and everyone stood up. As the Chief was looking around for the source of the noise, he felt something pierce his throat.  He instantly reaches for it and when he withdrew his hand, he saw his hand bloodied as could be. He started gargling and when everyone looked at him, they saw that his throat had been ripped out.  Everyone started to freak out and running in all directions.  Eli descended on the crowd and started to kill. Pretty soon there were about half the villagers left and the ground was drench with warm blood. Eli shifted out of his eagle form and approached the scared villagers. He yelled, “Let this be a lesson to all of you. Respect the dead creatures of the forest and no harm shall befall you.” Eli grabbed his brothers’ body and went off into the night.  From that night on the Cherokee people told their kids to always respect the creatures of the forest. Whenever Sam went out to hunt, we would always see Eli watching over him from overhead.

Authors Note:

I changed a lot about this story.  First, there really was not a back story about why the hunter killed the eagle.  I felt that having the eagle attacking the hunter would give a reason for him to fear for his life and to kill the eagle. Second, I wanted the hunter to have central role with the eagle. I wanted him to be more human than he is portrayed in the original story. The hunter, Sam, would make people feel sorry for his predicament that he finds himself in at the beginning and middle of the story. Third, I wanted to make the villagers of the reservation seem like bullies and seem that they had all the power. This is a great way to contrast the good that Sam is to the evil the villagers bring.  Fourth, I felt like having the stranger being the eagle’s brother who could shape shift would make this a different kind of lore. It would show that all creatures have feelings and emotions.  Having Eli, the brother, kill the villagers for disrespecting his dead brother would sound a lot better as to a stranger just showing up and saying, “Hi,” to people and then they die.  That just does not make any sense whatsoever.  I wanted the overall theme for this story to be respectful to all things living or not because you never know what will happen if you disrespect the world around you.

Eagle on the Attack. (October 1, 2012)

Michael Gäbler. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography. Gibbs, Laura. The Eagle's Revenge. The Eagle's Revenge