The Battle of the Eagle and the Loon

Some fight to win. Others survive by never becoming the target.

There was, and there was not, a time when the Raven watched a battle unfold beneath the sky, a fight not of aggression, but of survival.

The bald eagle, hungry and territorial, circled high above the still waters of a quiet lake, its eyes sharp with the hunger of a predator. Below, a loon glided effortlessly across the water, its movements smooth and deliberate.

The eagle dove with precision, its wings cutting through the air like a blade. But the loon, swift as a current, ducked beneath the surface, its body flowing with the water as if it had no weight at all. The eagle pulled up, claws grasping empty air. It circled and dove again. Each time, the loon evaded, each time more gracefully than the last.

The Raven perched on a distant branch, watching the scene unfold. The battle between the eagle and the loon was not a clash of equal strength. The eagle, with its power and sharp talons, sought to overpower. The loon, with its agility and calm, dodged with ease.

What can I learn from this? the Raven wondered, her gaze steady. Why does the loon not fight back?

She saw the eagle grow tired, its dives slower now, its wings beating with less force. The loon, untouched and unfazed, remained as it had always been, graceful, alert, and free. There was no victory here, no defeat, only a rhythm of evasion, a dance of avoidance.

The Raven reflected on the battle, its deeper meaning. In the Kingdom of Trade, we are taught to fight, to dominate, to win at all costs. But perhaps there is another way. Perhaps, like the loon, we can fight by not engaging at all. We can avoid the battle by understanding when it is not worth the cost.

As the eagle circled overhead once more, its frustration evident in every beat of its wings, the loon turned and swam toward the distant shore, leaving the eagle behind. The Raven tilted her head, watching as the eagle, too, turned away, defeated not by the loon, but by its own persistence.

In our kingdom, there are many who fight with all their might, believing that to survive, they must overpower. But sometimes, the greatest strength is in knowing when not to fight. The loon did not engage, but it won. And in its victory, it showed that the battle does not always belong to the strongest, but to the swiftest, the most aware.

The Raven’s thoughts swirled like the wind, and as she took flight once more, she carried with her the lesson of the loon, an understanding that avoiding unnecessary conflict was, in its own way, a form of strength.

© 2025 Sarah Dooley. Story and images by the author. All rights reserved.