“His First Flight” - Liam O'Flaherty (Detailed Summary) Plus One

“His First Flight”

- Liam O'Flaherty

Detailed Summary

“His First Flight” is a story which is written by Liam O' Flaherty. The protagonist is a “young seagull” who as the story begins is standing alone a ledge. It afraids to fly because it is thinking that if it flies, it will go beneath the sea and die. Before twenty-four hours, his parents scolded and threatened him with the hope that he would try to fly. Now nobody is with him on the ledge. His parents, who are on the plateau, are teaching his two brothers and a sister how to fly. He even sees how his older brother catches a herring and how he is devouringly eating the herring.

Now it is morning. The young seagull is very hungry. He has nothing to eat. He is searching for food on the ledge. He finally gets a dried mackerel's tail. Still, there is no end for his hunger. He goes to the straw nest where his two brothers, sister and he born. He sees remnants of dried eggshell which he sadly begins to eat.

In order to get the attention of his parents, he pretends to sleep at the brink of the ledge. Unfortunately, nobody except his mother notices him. His mother is tearing a fish, scraping her beak on the rock and looking at him now and then. Seeing her eating the food, he loses his patience and begs her several times to give him food.

Finally out of his luck, the young seagull's mother is coming towards him with a “piece of fish”. Seeing her, he moves towards the brink and leans forward in order to get the food. When the mother is near to him, she surprises him by retreating back. Out of hunger, the young seagull dives from the ledge. For a moment, he does not know what is happening. But instantly his mother swoops upwards which internally motivates him to fly. Unknowingly he spreads his wings and begins to fly like his mother.

The young seagull enjoys his first flight. He lands on the meadow. Since he gets exhaustion, his body becomes weak. He wants to eat food too. He is surrounded by his family. They give him pieces of dogfish. Thus the young seagull makes his first flight.