Owing to a variety of circumstances, the egg of an eagle found its way to a corner of the barn where a hen was hatching her eggs. In time the little eaglet was hatched with the other chickens. Now as time passed the fledging, quite unaccountably, began to experience a longing to fly. So it would say to its mother, the hen, “When shall I learn to fly?” The poor hen was quite aware of the fact that she could not fly and hadn’t the slightest notion of what other birds did to train their fledglings in the art of flight. But she was ashamed to confess to this inadequacy, so she would say, “Not yet, my child, not yet. I shall teach you when you are ready.” Months passed and the young eagle began to suspect that its mother did not know how to fly. But it could not get itself to break loose and fly on its own for its keen longing to fly had become confused with the gratitude it experienced towards the bird that had hatched it.