his wings. He could feel the tips of his wings cutting through the air. He was not falling headlong now. He was soaring gradually downwards and outwards.
He was no longer afraid. He just felt a bit dizzy. Then he flapped his wings once and he soared upwards. “Ga, ga, ga, Ga, ga, ga, Gaw-col-ah,” his mother swooped past him, her wings making a loud noise.
He answered her with another scream. Then his father flew over him screaming. He saw his two brothers and his sister flying around him curveting and banking and soaring and diving. Then he completely forgot that he had not always been able to fly, and commended himself to dive and soar and curve, shrieking shrilly.
He was near the sea now, flying straight over it, facing straight out over the ocean. He saw a vast green sea beneath him, with little ridges moving over it and he turned his beak sideways and cawed amusedly. His parents and his brothers and sister had landed on this green flooring ahead of him. They were beckoning to him, calling shrilly.
He dropped his legs to stand on the green sea. His legs sank into it. He screamed with fright and attempted to rise again flapping his wings. But he was tired and weak with hunger and he could not rise, exhausted dizzy an uncomfortable feeling of spinning around and losing one’s balance curveting leaping like a horse banking flying with one wing higher than the other Why was the young seagull afraid to fly?
Do you think all young birds are afraid to make their first flight, or are some birds more timid than others? Do you think a human baby also finds it a challenge to take its first steps? “The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? What compelled the young seagull to finally fly?
“They were beckoning to him, calling shrilly.” Why did the seagull’s father and mother threaten him and cajole him to fly? Have you ever had a similar experience, where your parents encouraged you to do something