other animals to eat.
She knew it was not the humans that were making her nervous, she had long ago
learned to despise and avoid them. No, her anxiety lay somewhere else,
somewhere deep inside her. She decided to continue the hunt for a little longer,
if this unease remained, she would return to her eyrie with or without some
game. Remera continued circling, her strong eyes taking everything in, but
yet again there was nothing to see.
Gone were the days when the Great Eagle was lord and master of the valley. With the coming of man many years ago, the Great Eagle had began its road to extinction.
The Eagles were dying out, man had seen to that. Their insatiable greed for land, combined with the cruel weapons they kept developing were making the largest bird on earth into a legend, a creature of the past.
Continuing her search for food, Remera's thoughts went back to the stories she had heard when still young. At one time, the Eagles had been so numerous, that the whole valley used to tremble when they took to the hunt. So large were these birds of prey, that nothing was safe from their deadly talons.
It was not that long ago that the Guadalquivir was a paradise on earth, natural, lush and overflowing with life. The Eagles fed on wild sheep, goats, pig and deer, all who were abundant in this land. Rivers and streams flowed from the mountains, fertilising the soil and enriching all as they passed on their way to the mighty river from which the valley has taken its name.
Bears swam and played in this water, competing with the Eagles, who loved to dive down onto the crystal clear surface, skimming gracefully along until they hooked a fat salmon; an appetiser to the bigger game that came later.
In those days, the Great Eagle would feed on sheep or goat, taking them in their talons then rising into the air. There they would dance among the air currents, holding the trophy beneath them. Showing to the world that they were indeed the kings of all living creatures. Then without warning, their world started changing. A new animal had arrived in the valley, one called man,
but this animal was unlike any before it. Although the Eagles did not mind
humans at first; for like them, he was also a hunter and game was abundant for all.
Every creature that hunts must be as one with nature. They must love and respect the land that feeds and supports them. Men it seemed were no different than any other animal in the valley.
Soon he started to change. Trees that had stood the test of time and weather were felled to build their new homes. They started to rip up the earth and burn that what they could not use or eat. In its place they planted new seeds of their own choosing. They dammed the rivers where the salmon had bred for countless generations, to irrigate their new seeds. The bear, wolf and wild pig they hunted for sport, killing every one that was seen, till they to disappeared from the valley.
Goat, pig and sheep he took for his own, locking them in small huts, or enclosing them in field with fences so he could watch over them. It was as if man and man alone, had received from nature the right to all the goodness the earth can bring forth.
In what was only a short period of time when compared against natures measure, the valley had changed. This creature called man had destroyed that what nature had taken so long to create.
No, the Eagles soon learned to despise this greedy and selfish animal. It was inevitable, that Eagles and humans would come into conflict. Unfortunately, it was a conflict the Eagles were destined to lose.
Over the years, death had come to the Guadalquivir for the Eagles. Death inflicted by man and the weapons he had devised for no other reason than destruction and to take life away. The Eagles saw these weapons as an evil stain upon the face of nature, an insult against the natural laws given to all. One day, they hoped man would destroy himself with these weapons, then he to would disappear and time would bring back what he had destroyed. The few remaining Eagles who had survived mans persecution had departed the valley over the last few years. Now only Remera and her offspring remained, and she too would be leaving when the eaglets were capable of making long sustained flights. She had heard there were lands over the great water that no humans had ever seen. Lands of high mountains and endless plains where they could live their lives the way the Great Maker had intended.
The Great Eagle had not been given his name for nothing. In his prime, he was without doubt the largest raptor on the planet. When standing, the Eagle could reach a height of one metre fifty. Their wing-span, when fully extended, measured over four metres from tip to tip. Although not as acrobatic as their smaller cousins; the golden Eagle, they were certainly, for their size, one of the most graceful fliers in the skies.
The Eagle
&
The
Dove 
