Evening star., 1943-07-24
Bedtime Stories
By THORNTON w. BURGESS.

The King is great! The King Is strongl
The King, good sir, may do no wrong!
The king of the birds is Old King
Eagle, as every one knows. He is
king because his father was king
before him, and his fathers father
and so on way back to the long ago
when the world was young. To him
all the other feathered folk yield
and pay homage because by virtue
of his great strength and courage
he is their lord and master Now.
Old King Eagle is for the most part
a wise and just ruler. He does not
have to be waited on, as do kings
among men. He does his own hunt
ing. He demands no tribute save in
one thing.
OF course, you know what tribute
is. Tribute is a gift from the weak
to the strong, gift not offered will
ingly by the giver, but demanded by
the one to whom it is given. Kings
are very apt to demand tribute from
those over whom they rule. But
Old King Eagle demands no tribute
from his subjects, save one, and that
one is one of his largest and strong
est subjects. Can you guess who it
is? 1t is Plunger the Fish Hawk.
Yes, sir, Plunger the Fish Hawk
has to pay tribute to Old King Eagle.
He doesn't do it willingly, but he
does it just the same. He does it
because King Eagle is big enough
and strong enough to force him to-
And the reason that King Eagle
demands tribute from Plunger is
that King Eagle has learned to like
the taste of fish but has not learned
how to catch fish for himself. There
fore he must depend on some one
else to catch them for him, and that
some one is Plunger.
On this particular morning that
Plunger had had to be so patient in
order to catch a fat fish to take
home to Mrs. Plunger, sitting on the
eggs in their nest in the Green For
est, it has come into the head Of
Old King Eagle that he was hungry
for fish. The more he thought about
it the hungrier he grew. Sitting on
the stump of tree on the edge of
a cliff Of the Big Mountain he could
see the Big River like a silver rib
bon in the distance-that is, it
would have looked like silver rib
bon to you or to me had we been
in his place. But 50 wonderful and
keen are the eyes of King Eagle
that he could see the Big River
clearly. He could see more. He
could see a speck sailing back and
forth over the Big River, and he
knew that that speck was Plunger
the Fish Hawk.
Old King Eagle chuckled. my
fisherman is fishing for me, but he
doesn't know it," said he. Then he
spread his wonderful great wings
and sailed out and up, like the royal
master of the air that he Is. Up,
up he flew until he was but speck
in the sky to any one watching from
below. Straight toward the Big
River he few, and there in majestic,
great circles he sailed round and
round three times as far above
Plunger as Plunger was above the
Big River. Plunger, his eyes fixed
on the water below, knew nothing
of King Eagle above him. So Plunger
flew patiently back and forth and
round and round over the Big River,
watching for fish, and cloud-high
above him King Eagle swung in
great circles, watching Plunger.
He laughed aloud, did Old King
Eagle, when at last Plunger shot
down into the. water with a great
splash and presently tapped up
ward heavily with a big fat fish in
his claws and then headed straight
toward the Green Forest. In his
turn King Eagle shot downward.
The rustic of his great wings was
heard by Plunger, who looked up
with both fear and anger in his
eyes.
Tribute! Give me tribute!" cried
Old King Eagle, fiercely.
Il won't! It Is my fish, for I
caught It'll" screamed Plunger.
Tribute! Tribute!" demanded
Old King Eagle, more fiercely than
before.
Still Plunger chung to the fish
for which he had waited SO long
and patiently.
II wont!" he screamed again, and
this time there was an answering
scream. It was Mrs. Plunger. She
had heard him and now was COM
ing swiftly to aid him. So Plunger
chung more tightly than ever to the
big fish and beat his way toward
the Green Forest, hoping that some
thing would happen to cheat Old
King Eagle Of that splendid prize.