How Old King Eagle Won His White Head

A story retold from Thornton W. Burgess

Thornton W. Burgess (1874–1965) was an American author and naturalist who wrote thousands of stories about animal characters. This tale comes from his 1916 collection Mother West Wind "How" Stories, which explained through fable how animals came to have their traits. The bald eagle is native to North America and has been a symbol of leadership and courage in many cultures. Burgess wrote at a time when nature stories for children combined observation with moral lessons, and his work introduced generations of young readers to the creatures of forest and field.

Band

Yellow · Emerging readers, about 6 to 8

Length

medium · about 502 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Mother West Wind "How" Stories, Thornton W. Burgess · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (8 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.