Page:Chinese Fables and Folk Stories.djvu/157

Rh early and went to the wilderness to seek her lost children. On the way, she met a cousin eagle who asked her, "Why are you crying and crying?"

The eagle mother answered and said, "I have lost three children. Have you seen any—lost in the wilderness? I could not sleep all last night, for a great trouble has come to me."

The eagle cousin said, "I saw three eagle children pass here. They went to the Fah-Nim tree and ate of its fruit. They were playing there, and seemed to be happy."

The eagle mother went to the Fah-Nim tree and saw three little eagles; and she said, "Children, how did you come here?"

The little eagles answered her, "We are not your children. Why do you call us? We have had no mother since we were born. The rice bird left us when we were small. She said we were not her children. Then an eagle came along and gave us food until we could fly."

The eagle mother said, "You look like my older children, and I believe you are mine. Would you like to go with me and see our home?"

Then the little eagles talked together and said, "She is very kind to us. Of course we do not know her, but we might go and see her home."