Bird II

Poul Anderson, The Avatar, XXI, p. 185.

The avatar of Bird, a crow, relates that:

he dreamed;
his universe became empty;
hungry and angry, he tapped and broke the shell;
his eyes were dazzled;
opening his mouth, he was fed but was also crowded by others;
plumed, then shoved from the nest, he learned to fly;
he possessed the sky and raided the earth (Anderson fans remember Ythrians);
belonging to the flock, he watched for hawks or men;
the flock enjoyed life;
caught by a fox, he escaped but lost the power of flight;
darkness approached but the Summoner came and kept him alive for a while.