Of the Boy with the Eagle

Andries (12), son of fisher-widow Trijn, walked the Sint-Annaland strand. He found a sea-eagle with a broken wing and bloody breast. The eagle looked at him, no fear. Andries carried it home on his coat. Trijn: «An eagle that lets you carry it wants help. Do it.» He bound the wing with a slat and linen, fed fish six weeks. On 14 October the wing was straight. He set the eagle on the roof. The eagle looked at him a minute. Flew up, one circle over the house, to sea. Andries vowed: never to kill or trap an eagle.

Andries married 1791, six children, fisher all his life, no rich catches, never hunger. Wife died 1841. On 3 September 1860, his 90th birthday, Andries sat outside his house with three living children and eleven grandchildren. Above came a great sea-eagle — unusual in September. It circled, cried once, and dropped from its claws a great herring. The herring fell on the threshold, 32 cm, fresh. The eagle flew off. Andries laughed to granddaughter Trijntje: «Eighty years later he still knows who I am. An eagle does not forget. Remember: an animal you do well by does not forget you, even if you long forget it.» Andries died six weeks later, 12 October 1860, in his sleep. Tradition: «Whoever saves an eagle gets a long life and on his last birthday a fish. The fish is not food; it is thanks. It is enough.»