The Eagle’s Lesson

• Rachel Zhou, Grade 6, Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Write Along 2018' competition

“Inner beauty and outer beauty are the same thing. If you don’t possess one, you don’t possess any.”
Once those words left my mouth, I was hurtling backwards at break-neck speed. It must have been around a minute until I started to slow down. It took another 30 seconds until I actually stopped.
A few minutes later, after I had finished being sick, I started to take in what was around me.
I realised with a pang that I was flying. Riding on an ugly eagle’s back. ‘Inner beauty and outer beauty are the same thing.’ I remembered the words I said before this.
The eagle soared up high, fast enough that if adjusted my position, I would fall. Attempting to block out my surroundings, I pondered. I pondered about this eagle, and what it had to do with those words.
After about what seemed like a millennium, the eagle descended. The eagle flew into a cave, making me worried. ‘Where is it taking me?’ I wondered. ‘What is it doing, taking me here? Why-‘
The eagle’s sudden stop made my heart race. “Get off.” The eagle muttered, and his voice echoed around the interior of the cave.
I leaped off, finding myself surrounded by paintings. Paintings of…. dots.
“Welcome to the cave of the Wurundjeri people.” The eagle cawed and continued. “You are here to discover inner beauty’s difference to outer beauty.” That left me deep in thought.
I watched the eagle with fascination. It combined a few bits and bobs and put them into holes roughly scratched into the ground. It dipped a claw into the ‘paint’ and added dots, one by one. Intrigued, I watched the eagle do a whole dot painting of me, from the first dot, to the last. “Wow,” I breathed. “That’s what inner beauty is like.”
“Inner beauty and outer beauty are two very different things. If you don’t possess one, you probably possess the other.”