Vedantic Tales : The Discipleship
        of Ajay : The Osprey

All the osprey, as well as the kite, hawk, and falcon fledglings of the vicinity attended the local flying pathasala, where they were taught different techniques according to their particular aptitudes and natures. But the teachers despaired of classifying Ajay. In every category he showed tremendous skill: he could soar, fast fly, dive, hit a target in the water or in mid air with an ease that ordinarily belonged only to adult specialists in those fields. It soon became clear that this remarkable child, this prodigy, required special attention; and therefore, his parents, heeding the advice of his tutors, applied for his admission to the Himalayan College of Falconiforme Flight and Fishing, which accepted only exceptionally gifted students. They began to build a large trophy nest on their tree that was already crowded with family nests.

Ajay passed the entrance examinations easily, and with a guide sent to fetch him, flew off to the College in the northwest with confidence and mounting excitement. He had not forgotten his Experience in the high and empty sky; he often longed for it and had tried again and again to find the crack, but it was not there, and as his classes at school had grown increasingly absorbing, and as his joy of flying had become more and more keen, the memory of that Joy beyond the sky had grown dim though never lost.

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