2 Mother' Disappearance

02. Mother' Disappearance

One day Metsu's mother was away hunting food while her father stayed in the nest. Metsu's mother was looking for a tasty piece of food and so she flew and she flew, over many fields and roads. Then she spied a rabbit jumping across a field and she thought,

"The rabbit will make a wonderful meal for my family."

So she swooped down on the rabbit to catch it. The mother did not know that there was someone else eyeing that rabbit for a meal also. It was a young boy with a brand new air rifle. The boy had just got an air rifle for his birthday and he was trying it out. He was aiming at the rabbit and fired a shot just as the hawk swooped down on the rabbit.

As Metsu's mother swooped down on the rabbit, her claws dug into the skon of the rabbit and then she felt a hot pain in her right wing. She tried to flap but the wing would not move. Letting go of the rabbit, she tried to fly away but again, the wing would not move and the pain started to get worse. She tried to look around but she soon found that she could not see and fell over and went into a deep sleep.

The boy realized that he had shot a hawk and ran to where she had fallen. The rabbit, having been released, hopped away across the field to freedom. The boy decided that since he had lost the rabbit, at least he had the hawk. He thought the hawk was dead and picked her up and carried her home.

When he arrived at home, he took the bird to his older sister and said,

"Sister, look at what I have shot."

His sister took one look at the hawk and said,

"Young naughty boy, you have shot a hawk. You should never have done that."

The boy replied,

"I did not mean to. It was an accident, I was shooting at a rabbit and the hawk flew in the way. I think it is dead."

The sister said,

"Let mee see." And look the hawk from her brother.

Just then the hawk started to move and the sister said,

"It is a live, let us take it to father, he will know what to do."

So they took the hawk to their father. He took one look at the hawk and said,

"That is red tailed hawk, she has a broken wing, and we will need to be very careful to help her."

And so, the sister and the brother started to care for the hawk. They bandaged the wing and kept her in cage. The boy would go out with his new air rifle and shoot small rabbits and bring the rabbits to the hawk for her to eat.

Meanwhile, Metsu and her father were in the nest waiting for their mother to come back. After waiting all day, Metsu started to cry.

"Father, where is mother? Why is she taking so long? I am very hungry and i want something to eat and I want my mother.

"Hush, Metsu" said his father, "I am sure Mother will be back soon, in the meantime, I will get something quickly for you to aet."

Then Metsu really started to cry, "Father don't leave me too, then I will be all alone by myself."

"Dont worry Metsu, I will be right around our tree and I will not go out of sight, I may not be able to get the best food, but I will get something, I will not let my baby go hungry."

And so the father flew around the tree and caught worms and squirrels for Metsu to eat. He could not get a big rabbit for he did not want to get our of sight of the nest and Metsu.

The next morning, the mother had still not returned. By now, the father was also worried. He was affraid something terrible might have happened to the mother. And so, while Metsu was still asleep, he flew high up into the sky. He flew as high as he could to look around. But he saw nothing as far as he could see and became very sad. He flew back to the tree and caught some more food for Metsu. When Mestu woke up, she started to cry again for she knew from the sad look on her father's face that her mother had not yet returned. Her father put his wing around Metsu and tried to comfort her as best he could.