His first flight

English -Class 10

1. By  Liam O'Flaherty

2. INTRODUCTION....... Once there was a young seagull. He spent his days in a ledge away from his family as he couldn't gather courage to make his first flight along with his siblings. He felt that his wings won't support him and the great expanse of the sea discouraged him.   Even when each of his brothers and his little sister, whose wings were far shorter than his own, ran to the brink, flapped their wings, and flew away he failed to do so. 

3. HIS FAMILY SUPPORTED HIM.........     In order to encourage their son  his father and mother had come around the ledge calling to him shrilly. They upbraided him, and even threatened him to let him starve on the ledge unless he flew and caught the fish himself. But the poor seagull was so afraid that he couldn’t move. But this didn't continue for a long time. His parent's attempts to persuade him to fly, failed and after that, nobody had come near him. 

4. The day before, all day long, he had watched his parents flying about with his brothers and sister, perfecting them in the art of flight, teaching them how to skim the waves and how to dive for fish. He had, in fact, seen his older brother catch his first herring and devour it, standing on a rock, while his parents circled around raising a proud cackle. And all the morning the whole family had walked about on the big plateau midway down the opposite cliff taunting him with his cowardice. The sun was now ascending the sky, blazing on his ledge that faced the south. He felt the heat because he had not eaten since the previous nightfall. He stepped slowly out to the brink of the ledge, and standing on one leg with the other leg hidden under his wing, he closed one eye, then the other, and pretended to be falling asleep.

5. However his attempts to grab their attention was unsuccessful as they took no notice of him.  His two brothers and his sister were lying on the plateau dozing with their heads sunk into their necks. His father was preening the feathers on his white back. Only his mother was looking at him. Now and again, she tore at a piece of fish that lay at her feet and then scrapped each side of her beak on the rock. The sight of the food maddened him.  He admired the way she tore the food ,the way she scrapped her beak he wished he was able to do so.  As he was hungry for a while he begged  his mother to bring him some food. But  she screamed back derisively. However he kept calling her plaintively. Finally his mother had picked up a piece of the fish and was flying across to him with it. He uttered a joyful scream. 

6. HIS FIRST FLIGHT............ He leaned out eagerly, tapping the rock with his feet, trying to get nearer to her as she flew across. But when she was just opposite to him, she paused, her wings motionless, the piece of fish in her beak. It was almost within the reach of his beak. He was startled as he waited. He was wondering the reason behind the halt. But then his hunger for food  was much more dominant than his fear of flying. He dived at the fish. With a loud scream he fell outwards and downwards into space. He was horrified, for a minute he could not hear anything. The next moment he felt his wings spread outwards. He was not falling headlong now. He was soaring gradually downwards and outwards. He was no longer afraid. Then he flapped his wings once and he soared upwards. His mother swooped past him.

7. He saw his two brothers and his sister flying around him curveting and banking and soaring and diving. Then he completely forgot that he had not always been able to fly, and directed himself to dive and soar and make different moves.  Then he was nearing the sea,  facing straight out over the ocean. He saw a vast green sea beneath him. It had little ridges moving over it and he turned his beak sideways and cawed delightfully.

8. HIS FAMILY CELEEBRATES......     His parents and siblings  had landed on this green flooring ahead of him. They were beckoning to him. He dropped his legs to stand on the green sea. His legs sank into it. He screamed with fright and attempted to rise again flapping his wings. But he was too weak with hunger and exhausted by his flight. So he allowed himself to sink and finally his belly touched the green sea and he sank no farther. He was floating on it, and around him his family was screaming, appreciating him and offering him scraps of dog-fish.  He had made his first flight. 

9. Liam O’ Flaherty born on August 28th, 1896 and died on September 7th, 1984.  He was an Irish novelist and short story writer and a major figure in the Irish literary renaissance.  Born to a large, poor family on Inishmore, one of the Ireland’s rocky Aran Islands. He took inspiration from the peasant life of the Aran Islands in his writing. Some of his books include The snipper, Insurrection, Famine, The Informer,  Short Stories. 

10. Who gave Young Seagull a piece of fish? (a) Brother Seagull (b) Mother Seagull (c) Father Seagull (d) None of the Above Why did his mother stop midway while giving him the fish? (a) she was mad at him (b) to push him to fly out of hunger (c) she didn’t want to give him the fish (d) she got tired Who is the author of “His First Flight”? (a) Liam O’ Flaherty (b) Frederick Forsyth (c) Roal Dahl (d) Paulo Coehlo What did the seagull pretend was happening to him so that he could take his first flight? A) he was unconscious B) he was falling down the cliff C) he was falling asleep D) He lost his balance Ans:  (b) to push him to fly out of hunger Ans: (b) Mother Seagull Ans:  (a) Liam O’ Flaherty Ans: C) he was falling asleep Ans: D) both 1 and 2 What urged him to make his first flight? A) hunger B) sight of fish C) courage D) both 1 and 2