The King And His Hawk – By James Baldwin | Short Stories For Kids Online
King
Genghis Khan was so fond of his hawk but was he ready to adhere to plea of his
hawk? Here is an amazing short story for kids that talks about companionship
and trust. Do enjoy this story by the renowned author - James Baldwin!
There once lived a great king and
warrior, his name was Genghis Khan.
He had a great army with which he
conquered great kingdoms; China and Persia. In every city tales of his great
deeds were told, it was believed that since Alexander the Great there had been
no king like him.
One of the mornings he wasn’t
fighting wars, he rode out into the woods to have a day’s sport. With him were
his friends. They rode cheerfully, having their bows and arrows with them. The
servants with the hounds came afterwards.
It was a great hunting party. The
woods vibrated with their shouts and laughter. They expected a bountiful
turnout from the day’s game.
On the wrist of the king sat his
favorite hawk; it was customary in those days for trained hawks to partake in
hunting. A word from their masters would send them soaring high up into the sky
in search of prey. It they happen to see a rabbit or deer, they would glide
downwards upon it fast as any arrow.
The game was proving to be
unfruitful as the King and his Huntsmen rode through the woods. Their
expectation had not been met.
When evening came, they journeyed
back home. The king was conversant with all the paths in the woods. While
others took the closest route home, he chose a longer road through a valley
bounded by two mountains.
It had been a warm day, and the king
was very thirsty. His pet hawk had flown away leaving his favorite spot on the
king’s wrist. It was certain to find its way home.
The king moved along slowly now in
search of water. One time, he had seen a spring of pure water near this path.
“Only if he could find it now,” he thought. The hot summer days was upon them
and had dried up all the mountain brooks.
To his delight, he saw water
dripping down the edge of a rock. Immediately, it occurred to him that was a
spring farther up. A fast flowing stream of water poured heavily down here in
the wet season; now it dripped at intervals.
The king took from his hunting bag a
silver cup as he leaped from his horse to catch a taste of the slowly dripping
drops of water.
The cup got filled after a long
while; the king was very thirsty that he had no time to wait. He placed the cup
to his lips, and was about to drink.
Immediately, there was a buzzing
sound in the air. The cup fell of the king’s hand and the water spilled upon
the ground.
Then, the king looked up to see who
did that. Behold, it was his pet hawk.
The king still thirsty, picked up
his cup and held it to catch the dripping drops.
Because he was very thirsty, he
couldn’t wait for the cup to get filled. He lifted the half filled cup to his
mouth and was about to drink. But before the cup could touch his lips, the hawk
glided down and knocked it off the king’s hands.
With the king’s anger gradually
growing, he tried it for the third time but the hawk again stopped him from
drinking the water.
The king was extremely angry this
time that he cried, “how dare you act this way?” I would break your neck, if I
had you in my hands.
Again he filled his cup. But this
time, he held his sword.
"I won't take that anymore from
you," he said to the hawk.
Half way through his statement, the
hawk flew down and knocked the cup off his hands. But the king having expected
this act, struck the hawk with his sword as it passed.
“Now, this is what you get for
behaving in this manner,” said the king as the poor hawk lay bleeding and
almost dead at the king’s feet.
When he turned around in search of
his cup, he found that it was trapped between two rocks beneath him where he
couldn’t reach it.
Nevertheless, "I won't let this
thirst kill me, he said, I must find the source of this water"
With determination, he made his way
upward to the bank where the water dripped. It was very taxing. The higher he
went, the thirstier he became.
Finally, he made it to the place. He
found plenty of water but in it laid a very big snake, dead and of the most
poisonous species.
The king was sad. He thought less
about his thirst. His thoughts were filled with that of the dead hawk he was
standing over.
“He was my best companion and I
murdered him,” he cried, “he saved my life several times and how have I repaid
him?”
Slowly, he made his way to the
ground, took the dead hawk and placed it in his hunting bag. He climbed his
horse and journeyed home as fast as he could.
“It is not good to do anything in
anger; this lesson I have learnt today,” he said to himself.
Anger is never a good
characteristic. Whenever we are in distress, we should learn to control our
anger. Regrets are painful. We hope you learnt a lot from this short
story. Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions below. Visit this
site regularly for more short stories and other great interesting contents forchildren online.
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