The Song of the Falcon by Maxim Gorky. Short summary

5 seconds

A wounded falcon fell into the gorge to the eel. He strove into the sky, tried to take off, but crashed. The eel followed the falcon’s example, and when it landed, it realized that the main thing about flying is falling.

1 minute

The author tells of a song sung to him by the Crimean shepherd Rahim.

In a ravine he is lying and watching the sea. Suddenly, a wounded falcon falls near him. It cannot take off, screaming in anger and hitting the rocks. The dying falcon praises the freedom and beauty of the sky; he pities the horror that has never been in the sky.

The serpent advises the falcon to jump off the edge of the gorge and maybe his wings will help him rise again to the sky he so desperately needs. The falcon jumps, falls down, and crashes on the rocks.

The falcon does not understand why it was so eager to take to the sky, why it longed to fly. To understand the bird, he jumps from the edge of the gorge and falls to the ground. Uzh understands that all the beauty is in the fall. Satisfied, he curls up in a ball on a rock.