Callanish – William Horwood

‘But the men were many and clever and shot at the eagles with arrows, and trapped them in nets and put them to death, one after another. Until at last there was only one Callanish eagle left, a juvenile whom the others had sought to protect and so had prevented from joining in the fighting even though she had wanted to.

Alone she saw the last of the adult Callanish eagles fall; alone she watched. ‘Then she flew high over the site of Callanish above the men and the fallen bodies of her kind which were scattered over the site. The men gathered to watch her, their arrows and spears ready to kill her, but she flew high, invoking the power of Callanish for advice on how best to attack and take revenge.

‘But the powers rebuked her, saying, “This is a site for peace and from it shall peace come. The fight we have witnessed between eagle and man has been fought many times in many places and will be fought again. But here we will make an end of it and leave a sign for all time that it should not be so.” ‘Then as she circled about she saw a mist come creeping over the sea and across the loch, thick and cold and grey.

It encircled the site of Callanish and drifted on to its grassy slopes where the men watched, with their Stones on the shore waiting to be raised. ‘Then the mist came nearer until it reached a man and an eagle and before her eyes they turned to stone and were raised up as a single standing stone, to point up into the sky. The mist moved on, and each man and eagle there was turned to stone and raised up.

Until at last the whole site was shrouded in thick mist and she could see no more. ‘After a while the sun beat down upon the mist and filled it with light and warmth, and a wind blew and the mist thinned and cleared. Then she saw that beneath her on the sacred site of Callanish all of the men and the eagles who had The Cages fought had disappeared.

In their places were great standing stones, tall and thin and pointing for ever to the sky.

a frightened and bedrag- gled golden eagle is brought to the Lon- don Zoo, his young life constrained to a bleak cage far from his native Scotland. It is tempting for Creggan to forget: to bury memories of the mountain and seas and, above all, the glorious skies of his homeland.

But there is an eagle who won’t let him forget, an eagle from Callanish who en- courages him to remember every vivid detail—only by remembering can the caged creatures keep themselves truly alive. Creggan owes his survival to Minch. It is she who makes it possible for him to seize his chance of escape when the moment comes, and it is her memory that eventually draws him back to the zoo. For Creggan has made a vow that he will never leave Minch to face a slow death in her cage.

William Horwood, the author of Dune- ton Wood and The Stonor Eagles was born in Oxford, England, and brought up on the southeast coast of England. He wrote this brilliant novel from a passionate an- ger about the way man holds wild crea- tures in captivity and, with the belief that in allowing such captivity we, their keep- ers, are ourselves in bondage. It is a poig- nant and thought-provoking story. (continued on back flap) BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY CALLANISH Books by William Horwood CALLANISH THE STONOR EAGLES DUNCTON WOOD William Horwood CALLANISH FRANKLIN WATTS New York Toronto 1984 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 84-50196 ISBN: 0-531-09833-8 Copyright © 1984 by Steppenmole Enterprises Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photography, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America 654321 CONTENTS PROLOGUE 9 PART ONE: THE CAGES 13 PART TWO: ESCAPE 89 PART THREE: THE FINAL RETURN 145 POSTSCRIPT 191 This story is dedicated to Goldie, the golden eagle who has been in the Cages of London Zoo since 1959.

He escaped briefly into Regent’s Park in 1965 but was finally lured back . . .

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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