01. The birth and early experience

High up in a tree, there was a nest. It looked mostly like a normal nest except that it was a bit bigger than most nests. It was a bird's nest and in it, there was an egg. There were also two birds in the nest. The birds were hawks and they were the mother and father of the egg and they were eaggly waiting for the egg to hatch. The mother said to the father.

"Go get more food, the egg will hatch soon and will need to feed the baby a lot of food. Iwill sit on the egg and keep it warm and when you get back, the baby will be here."

The father replied,

"But I want to see the egg hatch, If i go get food now, I will seeing the baby caming out of the egg."

The mother replied,

"No, you must get more food. As soon as the baby comes out, it must have as much foos as possible."

And so the father flew away to get more food.

In the meantime, the mother sat on the egg waiting for it to hatch.

Soon the egg started to shake and before long, a little chick came out of the egg. It was all wet and very small and the mother pulled the remaining pieces of eggshells off the chick. The mother was overjoyed as she cuddled her new baby chick in the nest.

Soon, the father flew into the nest with a great beating of wings and the mother said,

"Look husband, look at our beautiful daughter."

"She is so cute,replied the father,"I have brought food for her to eat. Should I tear up the food into smaller pieces?"

"That is a good idea." Said the mother. And so they, tore up the food into smaller pieces and fed their baby.

After a couple of days,the baby started to speak. The mother and father were delighted with their baby. Because she was the light of their life they named her Metsu, which, in the language of the birds, meant sunshine. And every time they looked at their baby daughter, the were reminded how much they were in love with each other and would hug each other with their wings. Often they would fly high up above their nest and gaze at their daughter sleeping happily in their nest. Hawks have excellent eyesight and could see a very long way. So no matter how high they flew, they could see their daughter and then they would fly close to each other in the sky, the tips of their wings would touch and the thrill and joy of their love would fill their hearts and nothing could have made them happier.

They would take turns staying home and watching Metsu. One of them would go hunting for food while the other would stay in the nest talking to there Daughter.

One they while the father was away hunting for food, Metsu was talking to her mother.

"Mother, where is father, I wish he was here with us so we can play with him."

"Hush Metsu, your father is out hunting for food. He will return sooon so that we can all eat."

"Mother, what kind of birds are we?"asked Metsu.

The mother replaid, "We are red tailed hawks and we are the proudest of birds. Soon, you will be able to fly and we will teach you to hunt, and you to will be a proud red tailed hawk."

And so Metsu began to learn about what it meant to be a hawk. She learned that they hunted rabbits and squirrels, and that they also hunted rats and snakes. She learned that when a red tailed hawk approached, all other animals would be respectful for there was almost nothing that a red tailed hawk feared. Sometimes her mother would go hunting for food while her father stayed in the nest with her. Her father would tear up the food that her mother brought and feed it to Metsu.

Metsu liked being fed by her father but she also liked to grab the food herself. "Father," she would say, "You don't need tear up the food, I can do it myself."

But her father would shakes his head and say, "Metsu, you are not strong enough to tear the food, you will hurt yourself. One day, you will be a strong and powerful hawk, but not today."

Then Metsu would flap her little wings trying to make a great wind and said, "But I want to be a strong Hawk now."

Metsu's father replied, You can Metsu, there is way that all creatures no matter how small or how young can be strong. Just always be honest, for the honest are always strong, and the strong are always honest."

Metsu loved talking and playing with her father and sometimes she would play with him in the nest, flapping her little wings, and sometimes she would just keep talking until she fell asleep under his wing.