Young Writers
How the Albatross Got Its Wings
By Drew Kushnir
Fallt was a horrible beast; he had the body of a human but the head and wings of a fly. Luckily, he was asleep, so
Denali
By Neil Ruthen
Awakening at the first light of dawn,
breathless with delight
I stare through the window,
with unbelieving eyes,
for through unveiling curtain of clouds,
natures most treasured jewel
stands for all to see,
I scramble outside,
feeling the
excitement build in my soul
for here I found indescribable beauty,
A gigantic, majestic
behemoth of rock
two towering sky scrapers of shining ice,
gleam with the pinkish glow of early morning light.
I gasp and
take in a breath,
a breath of the crisp spice of conifers,
that warms my body.
I smile at the landscape,
for sharing the secret of natures beauty.
Neil Ruthen is an 8th-grade student at Carlisle Public School, Carlisle Mass.
Albatross snuck into his dank, dark cave without an issue. He quickly found the Water of Wisdom, and then flew out with it. Unfortunately, on the way out, his wing scraped against a stalactite, which shattered and woke Fallt up. Albatross swiftly flew out of the cave, with Fallt right behind him.
Fallt’s heavy body and short wings made it hard to keep up with Albatross, so he gave up in the first few minutes of the chase. Albatross didn’t know this, however, so he kept on flying at full speed. In fact, he flew so fast that his short wings stretched out and became the long, sweeping wings albatrosses have today. He got tired, but struggled bravely on. He flew over the beach to the human’s tents on the cliffs, and poured the Water of Wisdom down on them. As the water touched their heads, their intelligence soared. They looked up and saw Albatross. They decided to follow him. They trailed him until he got back to beach, where Smarn had appeared. Upon seeing Smarn, the humans fell on their knees, worshipping him as a god.
Albatross was rewarded richly by Smarn, who made him his sacred bird and messenger. In Albatross’s free time, he became father to a new species of albatross, all with large wings like their father. So, that is the tale of how albatrosses became such majestic birds, and how humans became the most intelligent of all creatures. #
Drew Kushnir is a 6th-grade student at Shore Country Day School in Beverly, Mass.
