Introduction: This story was written back in 2006 by the new-deceased Terry Gardner. He worked as a clinical social worker all the way up to the time of his death. He also was a published author. This Four Directions story, as he called them, is shared in his memory and with permission of his widow, Lin Gardner.
This is one of seven stories he created that he designated as being from the East.
Ellen Eagle and her husband Eddie are woken out of a sound sleep by the rambunctious crows. While Eddie goes off to hunt breakfast for the two of them, Ellen Eagle flies off to investigate what the crows are doing. What she learns is quite amazing!
Flying Eights– a story from the East
© 2006 by Terry & Lin Gardner; Re-told and re-formatted with the permission of his widow, Lin Gardner, by Debbie Dunn
“Caw, caw, caw,” shouted the circling stack of four crows. They circled in huge figure-eights flight patterns like a stack of waiting passenger jets over an airport.
Ellen Eagle shook herself more fully awake as she heard the racket of the circling crows. She muttered to her husband, Eddie Eagle, “What are those crazy crows up to now? I guess I’d better check this out.”
Eddie sympathized just a little with his reluctant wife, “You sometimes have a rough job as guardian and guide for Master Forest. You check those crows, and I’ll go catch us two fish for breakfast.”
Ellen Eagle sighed and nodded her head. She said, “Okay. I don’t know how I’d help all the others if you didn’t help me. Thanks, Eddie!”
Ellen Eagle hopped to the edge of their huge nest located high on the cliff. She spread her huge wings and watched them for a few minutes. She felt the warmth of the early morning sun and the beginning rustle of a warm air updraft. She flapped her wings as she launched herself into the updraft. She quickly moved high above the cliff over her nest and assumed her patrol over Master Forest.
When Cody Crow saw Ellen Eagle, he exclaimed, “Ellen Eagle, look at the sun. It is cutting the tree line and brings such a beautiful day. The sun also brings so much excitement and promise to us. Oh, I’m sorry we awakened your husband and you, Ellen Eagle. We, sometimes, are too rambunctious.”
Ellen Eagle nodded her acceptance of Cody Crow’s apology and asked, “Why are the four of you flying so strangely?”
Cody Crow answered her as he continued to fly his figure-eight flight pattern, “We’re flying life. I invite you to join me.”
Ellen Eagle shrugged her feathered shoulders and commented, “Sure. Your flight pattern is tight for me, but I’ll keep up with you.”
Cody Crow cawed four times and the crows instantly increased the size of their flight paths. He grinned and cawed to Eagle, “We aim to please.”
Ellen Eagle replied, “Thanks! That helps. You said you fly life. I don’t understand you.”
Cody Crow wondered, “Ellen Eagle, you are guardian and guide of Master Forest yet you do not understand flying life.”
Ellen Eagle replied, “I know how I fly my life. I’d like to learn how you fly your life.”
Cody Crow explained, “I fly figure eights to celebrate our choices about yes or no.”
Eagle’s confused face caused Cody Crow to laugh. He said, “I have a choice between two points every moment. I can either obey or disobey my teacher or boss. I can use my left foot or right foot when hopping. I can be happy or sad-mad.”
Ellen Eagle smiled her understanding of his words.
“You’ve got it! You’ve got it!” exclaimed Cody Crow. “We fly a figure eight to honor the importance of yes and no. We fly the forward or clockwise circle for yes. We fly the counterclockwise or backward circle for no.”
Ellen Eagle said, “You make much sense. Yes and no are always equally important. I notice all my Master Forest friends facing questions about do or don’t and something is or something is not.”
Cody Crow continued, “Since we ALL have to make choices every minute, I’d like to make a strong choice. My strong choice might be a wrong choice; however, I firmly make the choice.”
Ellen Eagle looked puzzled again and commented, “I think you just said much again. Please help me better understand so I can use it, too.”
Cody Crow grinned as Ellen Eagle and he flew in perfect formation. He commented, “This is fun. I’m teaching the Guardian of the Master Forest.”
“Hey, I don’t know everything,” exclaimed Ellen Eagle. “I learn a bit here and there from everyone.”
Cody Crow respectfully said, “That makes you a great leader. Okay, I’ll tell you about choice.”
Ellen Eagle commented, “I wondered when you’d finally get to choices.”
Cody Crow stuck out his tongue in fun at Ellen Eagle and said, “There! I had a choice. I could get mad at you or tease you because you were so impatient then. I was responsible for every yes or no choice.”
“That makes sense,” Ellen Eagle slowly replied. “If I disobey a rule of flying, I crash into the ground.”
Cody Crow vigorously nodded his head. He said, “Right. The choice between weak or strong whether it is right or wrong is another choice.”
Ellen Eagle screeched her agreement, “Perfect! Cody Crow, that makes so much sense. We can’t always say yes. We sometimes hear ‘no’s’ from our teachers, our feelings, and our friends.”
Cody Crow NOW looked confused and simply said, “Huh?”
Ellen Eagle smiled and explained, “I like to be joyful practically all the time. However, I sometimes get sad about my friends and family. I sometimes feel mad, sad, or bad.”
Cody Crow observed, “You make sense here. Let’s rest awhile. I’m getting dizzy flying in circles.”
Ellen Eagle agreed, so Cody Crow cawed out, “Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, and caw!”
The other crows changed their flight patterns as one crow. They joined Ellen Eagle and Cody Crow to form a perfect formation. The five feathered friends flew to the top branches of a huge pine tree.
“Whew! It’s nice to rest again,” cawed out Carol Crow. “Hey, Cody Crow. We heard you talking to Ellen Eagle. You both made a lot of sense. However, you left out some important things.”
Ellen Eagle’s beak dropped, and the four crows grinned at her shock. She stammered, “How, …, how could you hear us?”
“Ah, I think we’re in trouble, now,” quipped Carol Crow to the other crows. “How do we explain this one to Ellen Eagle?”
Cody Crow cawed out, “I suggest you explain it as simply as possible.”
Carol Crow laughed as did the other three crows. Carol Crow said, “Ellen Eagle, do you sometimes have a voice in you telling you if what you’re thinking, talking, or doing is right or not?”
Ellen Eagle nodded her head very hard and firmly answered, “Of course. That voice is very quiet and tells me if I’m doing what is best for others and me. I sometimes call it my conscience.”
Cody Crow exclaimed, “Whew! You call that voice your conscience. We call the voice in each of us our spirit.”
Ellen Eagle responded, “I know much about my conscience or spirit. It is strong and helps me to strongly enjoy my life.”
“Do you mean your spirit is energetic?” asked Carol Crow.
Ellen Eagle replied, “Right. I feel very energetic when I’m really in touch with my spirit.”
Cody Crow continued, “Very good. Your spirit is your energy and your energy is your spirit. We laid some groundwork so you can more fully understand us.”
Ellen Eagle’s face lit up some as she continued, “Hmm, so you live from your spirits in your physical bodies.”
Cody Crow loudly cawed, “You’re getting it! You’re getting it! We accept our physical bodies and our spirits.”
Carol Crow added, “When we accept our physical and spirit bodies, we fully accept ourselves. This includes all of our memories as well.”
“That’s rather hard sometimes,” commented Ellen Eagle. “I have some memories from my childhood that are hard to accept. I used to steal fish from one of my brothers when he was not looking.”
Cody Crow asked, “Do those memories still bother you?”
Ellen Eagle answered, “Sometimes, yes.”
Cody gently suggested, “I strongly suggest you spend time with any memories that feel bad to you. You need to sit with the good and bad memories and sort through them. When you do this, you will come to acceptance and peace about the memories as you feel their bad feelings and let them go.”
Ellen Eagle observed, “That will take some work. I might have to have someone help me with my memories.”
“That’s wise,” remarked Carol Crow. “You sometimes can’t do everything by yourself.”
Ellen Eagle asked, “What will happen when I work with the bad memories and let them go?”
Cody answered, “We can’t promise anything for sure. However, each of us experienced increasing joy as we dealt with our memories.”
Ellen Eagle wondered, “How did you work with your memories?”
Cody Crow replied, “We had lots of help. We used color and sounds. They helped us to express our feelings about those memories.”
Carol Crow added, “We, with increasing frequency, felt and stayed in joy.”
Cody Crow said, “That joy came from our spirits and expressed itself in our physical bodies. We had one primary experience – joy.”
Ellen Eagle simply said, “Wow! That sounds really hard – yet exciting.”
Cody Crow quickly interjected, “We went one wing flap at a time. This takes much patience. However, our state of increasing joy left decreasing time and room for anger, bitterness, sadness, and sorrow.”
Ellen Eagle commented, “This all sounds very promising and possible. I’m not there yet, but I see how you used your understanding, knowing, desires, support, and happiness in each moment to help you.”
Carol Crow replied, “Now, I will answer your question about how we knew about your talk with Cody Crow. Each of us settled much of our sadness, madness, and badness, so we are empty for some keen hearing and seeing of sounds, feelings, persons, and colors.”
Ellen Eagle responded, “Wow! You bring some very powerful thoughts and suggestions to me. I really thank you.”
Cody Crow simply said, “We bring a new way of joyful life to you. That is our purpose.”
Ellen Eagle nodded and replied, “I’m guardian and guide for Master Forest. I continue to learn and grow up more each day.”
The four crows cawed at the same minute, “That helps to make you a stronger leader for all of us. You fly the way of Spirit beautifully and help us do the same through your learning, teaching, and flying your path.”
Feeling grateful for exciting new lessons learned and the fun of fellowship with the crows, Ellen Eagle smiled, said good-bye, and flew off to rejoin her husband for breakfast.
As for the crows, they happily resume flying their figure-eights flight patterns and continue to enjoy their day.
- Click “Story Comprehension Questions: Flying Eights” to get a copy of the questions for your class to discuss or write about or both. (coming soon)
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OTHER STORIES BY TERRY GARDNER
Four Coyote tales
- Read-Aloud Story for Grades 2-6: Coyote Meets his Master
- Read-Aloud Story for Grades 2-6: Courage to Fear
- Read-Aloud Story for Grades 2-6: Coyote Travels Inside
- Read-Aloud Story for Grades 2-6: Coyote Becomes Mindful
Story featuring Bear
Seven Stories from the East
- Read-Aloud Story for Grades 2-6: Dog Learns to Dance
- Read-aloud story for grades 2-6: Teeter-Totter Eagle reviews her past
- Read-aloud story for grades 2-6: Beaver Busy
- Read-aloud story for grades 2-6: Coyote and Fawn learn about growth within
- Read-aloud story for grades 2-6: Argument between the Deer and Rabbits
- Read-aloud story for grades 2-6: Wolf purpose versus Deer purpose
- Read-aloud story for grades 2-6: Flying Eights (see above)
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