The Hawk in the Helmets

Once, the hawks gathered for a big meeting and started a fierce fight among themselves. There were no old hawks in that fight, only young ones. Many of them came together, and they needed to choose a leader. They consulted among themselves: they said there was one hawk among them, a very handsome one and also quite educated—so they decided that he would govern them well, since he was a learned bird.

Before he was made leader, he was wise and learned, but once chosen, he began to side with the rich and stopped caring about the poor altogether.

For as long as they could, the poor endured and endured, but there were far more poor hawks than rich ones. So, they filed a petition in court, demanding that he answer for his actions and be removed. The court ruled that he should continue to fulfill his duties until his one-year term was up.

But the poor could no longer bear him; he treated them so unjustly, and the end of the year was still far off. They thought it over and decided:

"Why should we endure him? If we beat him up, he’ll leave on his own."

They caught him, gave him a good beating, and he left.

While he was weak, he stayed quiet, but once he recovered a bit, he went far away.

He heard that the crows didn’t have a leader, so he started visiting them and managed to become their leader. At first, after being chosen, he ruled well; whatever they told him, he did, and whatever he said, they followed.

In the forest, shrikes settled near the crows. Though shrikes are small birds, they are very troublesome, and they began to pester the crows. The crows started complaining:

"What should we do about them?" And the leader said:

"If they’re bothering you, defend yourselves."

The crows got angry at him for such words, called a council, removed him from power, and threatened him:

"If you don’t leave on your own, we’ll kill you!"

He went home and told his wife about it. When she heard, she began to scold and reproach him:

"The hawks didn’t finish you off, so the crows will. Can’t you live without being a leader?" He thought and thought, got scared, and said:

"If they catch me, they’ll kill me. Why do I even need this?" So he left the position. But he didn’t want to return to his own village. They laughed at him so much there, and he was ashamed. He said:

"I need to become a leader again."

So he flew around the world, listening for where there was no leader, in which flock. He heard from somewhere that the starlings didn’t have one. He thought: "It’s not proper for me to ask to be their leader, and there’s no way I can win them over." So he started spying on them: wherever they flew, he would sneak up and listen.

The berries ripened, and the starlings began flying in flocks, feeding on berries in gardens, vegetable patches, and clearings where cherries grew. People got tired of this and started beating the starlings with sticks, and then even shooting at them. The starlings couldn’t endure this, so a great many of them gathered for a meeting to choose a leader. They gathered in the forest, talking and consulting among themselves. Meanwhile, he flew from oak to oak, getting closer to them: he could see them well, but they couldn’t see him. They were discussing their affairs, and he kept listening, waiting to see if they would mention the leader. He sat down close to them, and they started saying:

"If even a stranger came along and ruled well, we’d choose even a stranger."

He flew even closer, perched on a tree nearby, and asked:

"What are you discussing here, brothers?"

"Oh," they said, "such a misfortune has befallen us! Everyone is beating us, and there’s no one to protect us!"

"You’re doing wrong by not having a leader who can take care of you," he said. "You should choose a leader, let him rack his brains to make things better for you. If you choose one of your own, no one will fear him because he’s small."

The starlings thought it over and said:

"Maybe we should choose you? They’d fear you."

"Well," he said, "choose a council, and if all the advisors agree, then I can do it." They chose a council, and the council decided:

"Let the hawk be the leader!" And he said:

"I agree to be the leader, but you must give me one of you every day for food. If you don’t, a man with a stick will come and kill a hundred of you, but I’ll only take one. Fewer of you will die."

The starlings agreed to this. And once he became their leader, he said:

"If you don’t want to be beaten, stay in your homes."

They didn’t like this leader from the very start, but what could they do?

When his term as leader was up, he hadn’t done anything good for the starlings, but he had killed so many of them that only ninety remained in the flock.

What could the starlings do? They decided to remove him and said:

"If he stays for another year, not one of us will be left."

They called him, but they saw that removing him wouldn’t be easy. Then they thought and decided:

"If we don’t kill him, we’ll never get rid of him." They all gathered together, surrounded him, and though they were small birds, their beaks were sharp, and they started pecking at him. He began to swear and promise that he would never be a leader again. And that was the end of it.

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The Hawk in the Helmets

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