"Do not kill me, and I'll be of great service to thee!"
The archer aimed a second time, but the eagle besought him still more and said:
"Take me down rather and keep me, and thou shalt see that it will be to thy advantage."
The archer, however, took aim a third time, but the eagle began to beg of him most piteously:
"Nay, kill me not, but take me home with thee, and thou shalt see what great advantage it will be to thee!"
The archer believed the bird. He climbed up the tree, took the eagle down, and carried it home. Then the eagle said to him:
"Put me in a hut, and feed me with flesh till my wings have grown again."
Now this archer had two cows and a steer, and he at once killed and cut up one of the cows for the eagle. The eagle fed upon this cow for a full year, and then he said to the archer:
"Let me go, that I may fly. I see that my wings have already grown again!"
Then the archer let him loose from the hut. The eagle flew around and around, he flew about for half a day, and then he returned to the archer and said: