A young brave went to the forest seeking any bird of interest he might find. He caught a young eagle, brought it home, and put it among the fowls and ducks and turkeys, and gave it chicken food to eat, even though it was a majestic eagle.

Five years later, a wise elder came to see the man, and was appalled to see the eagle treated as if it was a chicken. The elder cried, "That bird is an eagle, not a chicken!" "Yes," said the brave, "but I have trained it to be a chicken, even though its wings measure eight feet from tip to tip!" "No," said the elder, "it is still an eagle; it has the heart of an eagle, and I can make it soar to the heavens." "Rubbish," said the brave, "it is like a chicken and can never fly. He has forgotten how to be an eagle."

The two indians, the elder and the brave, agreed to test their beliefs. The elder took the eagle, held it up, and told the eagle: "Eagle, you are an eagle; you belong to the sky, and not the earth - stretch your great wings and fly." The eagle looked this way and that, and then, looking down, saw the chickens eating their food, and down the eagle jumped. The brave laughed, "I told you, it is a chicken."

"No," said the elder, "it is an eagle. Give it another chance tomorrow." So the next day the elder took the eagle to the top of the house and said: "Eagle, you are an eagle; you belong to the sky, and not the earth - stretch your great wings and fly." But again the eagle saw the chickens feeding, and jumped down and fed with them, scratching for its food. The brave laughed again, "I told you before, it is just a chicken."

"No," asserted the elder, "it is an eagle, and it has the heart of an eagle. Give it another chance, and I will make it fly tomorrow."

The next morning the elder arose before Grandfather Sun and took the eagle away from the houses to the foot of a large mountain. The Grandfather Sun was just rising, gilding the top of the mountain with gold, and every crag was shimmering in the joy of the beautiful morning. The elder picked up the eagle and said to it: "Eagle, you are an eagle; you belong to the sky, and not the earth - stretch your great wings and fly."

The eagle looked round and trembled as the spirit of the eagle awakened. Yet it did not fly. The elder then made it look straight at the sun. Suddenly it stretched out its wings and, with the screech of an eagle, it mounted higher and higher and never returned. It was an eagle, even though the young brave tamed it and tried to make it a chicken.

Even though we are living in a world that wants to define us as non-Indian, we too must remember that we are Cherokee and will always be Cherokee.. We should not be afraid and should endeavor to follow the spirit of the eagle. For we are not chickens, We are Eagles (and a few owls) Let us have the pride of eagles, hold our heads up high, straight on our shoulders, proud of our ancestry and proclaim We are Cherokee.