Have the fairies taken her , or has some wild beast carried her off ? ' And they began their search all over again ; but neither fairies nor wild beasts did they meet with , and with sore hearts they gave it up at last and turned sadly into the hut . And what had become of the baby ? Well , finding herself left alone in a strange place she began to cry with fright , and an eagle hovering near , heard her , and went to see what the sound came from . When he beheld the fat pink and white creature he thought of his hungry little ones at home , and swooping down he caught her up in his claws and was soon flying with her over the tops of the trees . In a few minutes he reached the one in which he had built his nest , and laying little Wildrose -LRB- for so the old man had called her -RRB- among his downy young eaglets , he flew away . The eaglets naturally were rather surprised at this strange animal , so suddenly popped down in their midst , but instead of beginning to eat her , as their father expected , they nestled up close to her and spread out their tiny wings to shield her from the sun . Now , in the depths of the forest where the eagle had built his nest , there ran a stream whose waters were poisonous , and on the banks of this stream dwelt a horrible lindworm with seven heads . The lindworm had often watched the eagle flying about the top of the tree , carrying food to his young ones and , accordingly , he watched carefully for the moment when the eaglets began to try their wings and to fly away from the nest . Of course , if the eagle himself was there to protect them even the lindworm , big and strong as he was , knew that he could do nothing ; but when he was absent , any little eaglets who ventured too near the ground would be sure to disappear down the monster 's throat . Their brothers , who had been left behind as too young and weak to see the world , knew nothing of all this , but supposed their turn would soon come to see the world also . And in a few days their eyes , too , opened and their wings flapped impatiently , and they longed to fly away above the waving tree-tops to mountain and the bright sun beyond . But that very midnight the lindworm , who was hungry and could not wait for his supper , came out of the brook with a rushing noise , and made straight for the tree . Two eyes of flame came creeping nearer , nearer , and two fiery tongues were stretching themselves out closer , closer , to the little birds who were trembling and shuddering in the farthest corner of the nest . But just as the tongues had almost reached them , the lindworm gave a fearful cry , and turned and fell backwards . Then came the sound of battle from the ground below , and the tree shook , though there was no wind , and roars and snarls mixed together , till the eaglets felt more frightened than ever , and thought their last hour had come . Only Wildrose was undisturbed , and slept sweetly through it all . In the morning the eagle returned and saw traces of a fight below the tree , and here and there a handful of yellow mane lying about , and here and there a hard scaly substance ; when he saw that he rejoiced greatly , and hastened to the nest . ` Who has slain the lindworm ? ' he asked of his children ; there were so many that he did not at first miss the two which the lindworm had eaten .
But the eaglets answered XXXXX they could not tell , only that they had been in danger of their lives , and at the last moment they had been delivered .
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