The Eagle and the Geese

Franz Hartmann^[1]

Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl

          Once upon a time, an eagle’s egg was laid in a goose coop. It was hatched by a goose, but nevertheless, an eagle emerged. As long as the young eagle couldn’t fly, the geese got along fairly well, and they considered him a member of their family. But when his wings grew stronger and he rose above the goose coop, the geese cackled in horror and reproached him, even threatening to expel him if he didn’t stay quietly in the goose coop. One old gander in particular, who served as pastor in the coop, couldn’t contain himself and heaped reproaches on the eagle for thus violating all the traditional customs among the geese. Some aristocratically minded geese, unable to keep up with the eagle on his excursions, feigned indignation and claimed to want to renounce his company.

          The eagle, who had grown accustomed to family life among the geese in his youth, was very sorry about this, but he couldn’t change his nature and become a goose; moreover, the geese’s food no longer pleased him. Therefore, he finally left the goose house and built himself a nest on a high rock, where the sun was already shining in the morning, while the geese were still asleep. The geese, however, found it strange that there were birds that could fly, and some of them even tried, and after a while, they too succeeded in learning about life outside the goose house.

Franz Hartmann.

Note:

^[1] The Eagle and the Geese [Der Adler und die Gänse. F. Hartmann [Franz Hartmann] Theosophischer Wegweiser 5, no. 6 (March 1903), 190-191 [ Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025]