Once upon a time in a faraway land, a king and queen lived in a shining castle next to a forest. Their son, the prince, was a kind soul and he loved the forest more than anyone else in the castle. The reason he loved the forest was because of all the birds that lived there. The birds were his best friends and everyday in his spare time he would play with the birds and talk to them. But his most favourite was their singing, the birds singing was so peaceful it always put a smile on his face, even when he was feeling down.
All was peaceful at the castle, but one day a terrible thing happened. A band of robbers attacked the castle to steal its treasures. The prince and servants escaped but the king and queen were killed by the robbers. The prince, who was hiding in the forest, was distraught by his parent’s death and was angry with the robbers. He wanted to fight them but the robbers were too strong for him to handle on his own.
“I can help you” said a feminine voice behind him.
The prince turned round and saw a beautiful forest spirit.
“I have seen how you take care of my forest and the birds. I will give you the power to destroy the ones who are attacking your home. But I’m afraid I will be placing a curse upon you. You will become a beast with the head, claws and wings of an eagle and the only way for this curse to be broken is for you to find someone who would love you as you are. Are you willing to go through this curse?”
The prince hesitated after hearing what would happen to him, but he just couldn’t let the robbers get away with their crime. He asked the forest spirit to transform him and to keep his castle hidden until that special person came into his life that would break the curse. With her powers she granted his wish. The prince became an eagle beast and destroyed the robbers. Then he hid away in the castle and the servants of the castle were turned into birds and became the eagle beast’s pets. The forest spirit then placed a magic barrier around the castle, to make an illusion, so if someone went into the forest they would never find the castle hidden by more and more trees.
No one ever knew what had happened to the castle or its people. Neither did they know what became of the prince. Because of the attack and disappearance of the castle everyone believed that the castle had been destroyed and all who lived there were killed. Soon the castle and the people of the castle became forgotten.
In a village outside the forest there lived a beautiful and kind young girl, but her life was not a happy one. Her mother and father died when she was a little girl and her adoptive mother was very unkind. She made the girl do all the housework without ever offering to help. The mean mother had a daughter of her own and unfortunately the sister was lazy and mean too, so the poor girl had to do everything she was told to do.
Whenever she had free time and had finished her daily chores she would go into the forest and spend time with the birds. Their singing always made her smile and relaxed her after such a busy day. But her mother and sister laughed at her and named her Birdina because the birds were her only friends. Birdina didn’t care because she loved the birds very much, but still she wished she had a happier life than she had now. There were some days that Birdina had tears of sadness running down her cheek because of the cruelty her adoptive family gave her.
One day Birdina’s mother asked her to go into the forest and pick some strawberries for supper. It was strawberry season and the forest was filled with plump red strawberries. So Birdina got a basket and went straight to the forest. The birds were happy to see Birdina and while she picked strawberries the birds sang a sweet melody to her. She had just finished picking strawberries when an old woman came up to her. The old woman was really the forest spirit in disguise but Birdina didn’t know that. The forest spirit had always watched Birdina when she visited the forest and agreed that Birdina was the one who could break the curse of the eagle beast.
“Is anything wrong madam?” asked Birdina.
“Yes I’m afraid so dear”, answered the forest spirit “I saw a baby bird fall out of its nest back there. I would gladly help it get back to the nest but I’m too old to climb trees. Could you help it please?”
Birdina agreed and walked into the direction given by the forest spirit to look for the baby bird. The forest spirit actually pointed her to the direction where the castle was hidden behind the magic barrier. Then she vanished into thin air to wait for the miracle to happen.
Birdina kept on walking to find the baby bird that fell out of its nest, and she finally found it. But she didn’t realise that she had just walked through the magic barrier and entered the castle garden. She saw the baby struggling to get back to its nest, then picked it up and climbed up the tree. Birdina had climbed trees lots of times and was a bit of an expert at it. She climbed and climbed till finally she reached the birds nest and gently put the bird back into the nest.
While this was going on the eagle beast was watching Birdina from his balcony window. He saw her walk through the magic barrier, walk into the garden and climbed up the tree to help the baby bird. He whispered to himself that she was the most beautiful and kindest girl he had ever seen. He was desperate to greet her, but because of his appearance he feared that she would run away in fear of him. So he just kept his eyes on her.
Suddenly there was a scream from Birdina. As she was about to climb down the tree she slipped off the branch she was sitting on and was falling down towards the ground. The eagle beast saw this and flew towards her to catch her. Since he had the wings of an eagle on his back he could fly. Birdina, who had her eyes shut while she was falling opened her eyes and saw her rescuer. She was amazed to be rescued by a giant bird. Then the eagle beast flew to the ground and put Birdina down.
“Thank you for rescuing me” said Birdina, bowing to the eagle beast. She was still a bit surprised by his appearance but was grateful that he had saved her life. The eagle beast thought that she was going to scream and run for her life, but she didn’t. “You’re welcome miss” he answered back.
The eagle beast extended a claw to her and Birdina took it. It felt strange to hold the claw of an eagle but she didn’t want to be rude to the eagle beast. The eagle beast showed her around the garden then took her into the castle. Inside, the castle looked magical with so many rooms. But it was very empty as there were no other people living in the castle. “Excuse me, but isn’t this the castle that was attacked some time ago?” asked Birdina.
“So you know about what happened here some time ago?” asked the eagle beast.
“Everyone in my village knows about band of robbers who attacked this castle, but we all thought it was destroyed” Birdina answered.
The eagle beast explained it was not destroyed just hidden away, so it wouldn’t be attacked again. Birdina was about to ask him some more questions but then decided not to just in case it would annoy him.
The eagle beast showed Birdina all the rooms of the castle. There was a library, a music room, a big dining room, a big kitchen, a throne room and upstairs were many bed rooms and bathrooms. After the tour the eagle beast asked Birdina if she would stay with him at the castle. Birdina gladly accepted his offer and forgot about going back home to her mother and sister. The eagle beast was happy that Birdina was going to stay with him and placed one of his wings on her back. It was a sign of his affection to her. He couldn’t kiss her because he had a beak not lips.
That evening Birdina and the eagle best were having dinner together. The eagle beast was pecking at his food, as he was half bird, and Birdina was eating normally. While they were eating the eagle beast asked Birdina about her life. Birdina spoke about her parent’s death and about how wicked her adoptive mother and sister were. She even spoke about how they made her do all the housework without offering to help. The eagle beast was not happy about how she was treated and promised her that she will never be unhappy again. Birdina was grateful to him and was happy to be living with him, beast or no beast.
While living with the eagle beast, Birdina enjoyed her new life at the castle. It drove away all the sadness she had in her heart from the cruelty of her adoptive family. She loved reading the books in the library, playing the piano in the music room and enjoyed the company of the birds in the garden. But she enjoyed the eagle beast’s company more, she felt lonely when he wasn’t around. Not only did Birdina like the eagle beast, she loved him. She didn’t care that he was a beast; she was in love with his kindness. As for the eagle beast he kept an eye on Birdina all the time, making sure she was happy. It made him happy seeing her smile and made him more and more in love with her.
One day the eagle beast called Birdina to the palace garden. Today he was going to pluck up his courage to ask Birdina to marry him. He was worried though, he feared that Birdina would never agree to become a wife of an eagle beast. Birdina entered the palace garden, looking more beautiful than ever. She was wearing a beautiful gown; the eagle beast had given it to her earlier as a gift. After gazing at her beauty for some time the eagle beast slowly walked up to her, took one of her hands and knelt down on his knees.
“Birdina I have been meaning to ask you something” he said, feeling very nervous inside “would you marry me and become my wife?” He closed his eyes tightly and waited for her answer.
“Dear eagle beast, I would be honoured to become your wife” said Birdina. This made the eagle beast very happy.
“Do you really wish to become an eagle beast’s wife” he asked.
“I don’t care that you are half eagle and half man,” answered Birdina “I love you”. She kissed him on the cheek.
Suddenly the eagle beast started to glow a bright light, so bright Birdina shut her eyes. When she opened her eyes there standing in front of her was not the eagle beast but a handsome prince.
“Who are you?” gasped Birdina “What did you do to the eagle beast?”
“I was the eagle beast” the prince answered. “It’s a long story but I will tell you everything”.
The prince explained about what happened when the band of robbers attacked the castle and killed his parents. Also about when the forest spirit transformed him into an eagle beast so he could destroy the robbers. Last of all he told her about her love for him was the only way the spell could be broken. After he finished his story he said to Birdina that together they would be the new king and queen.
At that moment all the birds in the palace gardens began changing back into humans. They were overjoyed to be human again and even more overjoyed that their master, the prince, had found his true love. Birdina was amazed that the birds had been humans and was happy that the curse had been broken.
A few days later Birdina and the prince were married and became the new king and queen of the castle. Birdina was happy to finally have the happy life she had always wished for and the prince was happy that, even though he missed his parents, he had someone special to be by his side always.
As for Birdina’s cruel adoptive mother and sister, they were completely forgotten. When Birdina never came home from the forest they didn’t care what ever happened to her and they never found out about her marriage to the prince. The prince forbade it for them to ever find out because of the cruel way they had treated Birdina.
As for Birdina and her prince, they ruled their kingdom happily together for many, many, years.
