A Story from Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime
All swans were once white until the day when two swans landed on a lagoon inhabited by eagles at the foot of a mountain. The eagles were angered by this intrusion, and proceeded to pick up the swans, carrying them all the way to the southern coast of Australia. In flight, the eagles pulled the swans’ feathers out, dropping them along the way. After being released from the eagles’ grasp, the wounded swans were found by some crows who kindly offered them some of their black feathers so that they should stay warm and soon be able to fly once again. Their former white feathers later sprouted from between the rocks where they had been dropped as delicate flannel flowers.