The Eagle and the Jackdaw

High above the meadow green, The mightiest bird you've ever seen -- An eagle circling, sharp and keen, Riding the wind like a flying machine.

She folded her wings. She dropped like a stone. She dove through the air All the way down alone. She grabbed up a lamb with her powerful claws And carried it off without even a pause.

Now a jackdaw was perched in a sycamore tree, And he watched the whole thing and he said, "Look at me! I've got wings and I've got claws -- I can do that too! If an eagle can grab a lamb, I know what I'll do!"

So he puffed out his chest And he spread his small wings And he launched himself down Like the eagle, the king of all things --

Down, down, down to the woolly white flock, He dove with a screech and he landed -- KNOCK KNOCK -- Right into the fleece of a fat fluffy sheep, And his little claws tangled in wool thick and deep.

He pulled and he tugged but he couldn't break free, His feet stuck like glue to that wool on the sheep! He flapped and he squawked, "Let me go! Let me out!" But the more that he struggled, the tighter throughout.

Along came the shepherd, Who saw the commotion, A jackdaw stuck fast In a flapping devotion.

He plucked up the bird and he carried him home, Set him by the chickens in the dusty old yard. "What bird is that, Father?" the little ones cried. The shepherd just laughed and said, "Stuck in a sheep -- He thought he was eagle, and the wool wouldn't keep."

The eagle sailed on, far above the meadow green -- The jackdaw walks now, where the sheep all graze between.