Surya Bai, the Girl the Eagles Raised

High in the branches of the tallest tree in the forest, a pair of great eagles had built their nest. They were old, and they were kind, and more than anything in the world they had always wished for a child of their own.

One day, flying far over the villages, they came upon a tiny baby girl who had no one to care for her. So they wrapped her warm and carried her gently home to their treetop, and they raised her as their own. They named her Surya Bai, which means lady of the sun, because her face was as bright and warm as the morning.

The eagles loved her dearly. Every day they flew out across the land and brought back wonderful things for her, soft cloth and good food and pretty toys, until their home at the top of the tree was finer than many a palace. Surya Bai grew up happy up there, high above the world. Her only trouble was that, when the eagles were away hunting, she was all alone.

So one day they brought her home a little friend, a fine red cockerel, to keep her company and to crow out loud if ever danger came near.

Now, not far off there lived a family of rakshasas, the fierce ogres of the forest, and they had caught the scent of a child. While the eagles were gone, an old ogress came scratching at the door, her voice sweet as honey. “Little girl,” she called, “my fire has gone out. Won’t you give a poor old woman a coal to light it again?”

Surya Bai was kind, and she very nearly opened the door. But the red cockerel flew up flapping and crowed, and crowed, and crowed, so fierce and so loud that the startled ogress went tumbling back down the tree and never dared come again. The brave little bird had saved her.

The years passed, and Surya Bai grew into a young woman as good as she was lovely. And it happened one day that a young king, hunting in the forest, looked up and saw her high in the great tree. He was struck by her bright, gentle face, and he climbed all the way up to speak with her. They talked for a long while. And before long the eagles gladly gave their blessing, and Surya Bai came down at last from her treetop to be his queen.

She never forgot the two old eagles who had raised her, nor the brave little cockerel. She brought them all to live with her, and visited them often. And the eagles, who had wished so long for a child, lived out their days proud and happy and surrounded by love.