The Stone Feather
As the sun rises over Mount Nemrut, a honey-colored eagle chick hatches from a stone egg. The little chick is alive in the sunlight but turns to stone in the shade, and each time it wakes, one of its feathers turns to stone. Lily has just one day to carry it back to the eagle statue by the next dawn, and it's up to her to choose whom to trust and when to let it go.
Free story — no account needed to read it.
8 Minutes
4 Endings
11-12
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About This Story
“The Stone Feather” is an interactive fantasy story for children aged 11-12, about 8 minutes long. The reader decides how it goes at 5 choice points, and there are 4 different endings. It is free to read on Kitapz, with no account needed.
- Age range
- 11-12 years
- Reading time
- about 8 minutes
- Genre
- Fantasy
- Format
- Interactive · 5 choice points · 4 endings
- Language
- English, Turkish
- Access
- Free, no account needed
- Characters
- Honey, Ranger Carl, Lily, Granny Rose, Aunt Daisy, Sam
- Values
- Honesty, Responsibility, Courage
- Collections
- Fantasy stories, Stories for ages 11-12
- Reading support
- dyslexia-friendly font, bionic reading, color-blindness filters
An Excerpt from the Story
The minibus had set off at three in the morning, and now it had brought Lily to the top of Mount Nemrut for the first sunrise of her life. Everyone was facing the horizon. But Lily's eyes were on a giant stone eagle head that had toppled onto the terrace. At the bottom of its beak sat an egg small enough to fit in her palm. The egg was made of stone, but it was warm.
A boy carrying a thermos of tea for the ranger stopped beside her.
Sam:
“I'm Sam. My dad's tea stand is down the hill. We go down to the village for supplies in the mornings. Look, the first light always hits the eagle's beak first.”
And sure enough, the light slid off the beak and fell into Lily's palm. The egg cracked, and out came a damp little chick with honey-colored feathers. Lily was so surprised that she set the chick down next to her open bag.
Just then, a ranger with a gray mustache caught a tourist slipping a stone into his pocket and made him put it back in front of everyone.
“The Stone Feather” · Ages 11-12 · kitapz.com
school For Parents and Teachers
In this story, children follow Lily as she tries to save a magical chick hatched beside a stone eagle on Mount Nemrut, and think about why nothing may be taken from an ancient site and why owning up to an accident takes courage. Readers decide whether Lily turns to Granny Rose or Sam, and how she uses her one day.
What will children learn from this story?
- Learns that ancient sites such as Mount Nemrut are protected, that nothing may be taken from them, and that old objects found there are reported to a museum.
- Notices how shadows shift and lengthen as the sun moves across the sky during the day.
- Practices turning careful observations, such as counting feathers, into a rule and then testing it.
- Thinks about how to explain something that happened by accident to an adult, clearly and honestly.
Curriculum links: Social studies, Science
Fact Box
Who built the giant statues on Mount Nemrut, and when?
In 62 BC, King Antiochus I of Commagene built a tomb-sanctuary on the summit, with huge statues of himself and of gods, flanked by statues of lions and eagles. A man-made mound of loose rock about 49 m high rises over the site and may hide the king's tomb. Mount Nemrut became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
Source: Wikipedia
What do the eagle statues on Mount Nemrut stand for?
The five main statues on Mount Nemrut are flanked by two pairs of guardian statues, an eagle and a lion. Together they symbolize power in the sky and power on earth.
Source: National Geographic
Where are the giant stone heads of Mount Nemrut today?
Many of the colossal heads that once sat on the statues now lie on the ground in front of their bodies, and over the centuries the site has been damaged by earthquakes and some vandalism. In 2002, Turkish and Dutch archaeologists set the heads on stone plinths to protect them from damp and winter frosts.
Source: National Geographic
What should you do if you find an old object at a historic site in Turkey?
Under Turkey's Law No. 2863 on the protection of cultural and natural property, anyone who finds a cultural object must report it within three days to the nearest museum directorate, or to the village headman or local government official. The law treats such protected objects as state property.
Source: Law No. 2863, Articles 4 and 5 (Lexpera, Turkish text)
Reading Comprehension Questions (5W1H)
The questions cover the opening that every reader sees, whatever they choose. Tap a question to see the answer.
-
Who? Who is the boy who stops beside Lily at the top of the mountain?
Answer: Sam, who is carrying a thermos of tea for the ranger and whose dad has a tea stand down the hill.
-
What? What does Lily find at the bottom of her bag the next morning?
Answer: A palm-sized stone bird with honey-colored veins that looks exactly like yesterday's chick.
-
Where? Where does Lily find the stone egg?
Answer: At the bottom of the beak of a giant stone eagle head that has toppled onto the terrace at the top of Mount Nemrut.
-
When? When does the egg crack open?
Answer: At sunrise, when the first light slides off the eagle's beak and falls into Lily's palm.
-
Why? Why does Lily feel she can't take Honey back to the eagle on her own?
Answer: She remembers how Ranger Carl made a tourist put a stone back in front of everyone.
-
How? How does Honey change between stone and a living bird?
Answer: Honey turns to stone in the shade and wakes up in the sun, but every time it wakes, one more tail feather stays stone.
Questions to Talk About After Reading
- At the first choice, did you send Lily to Granny Rose or to find Sam? Why did you choose to trust that person?
- Lily didn't mean to take Honey, but finding it in her bag still makes her stomach twist. If you had done something wrong without realizing it, who would you tell, and how?
- Why might taking just one pebble from an ancient site matter? What would the place look like in a hundred years if every visitor took a stone?
- Have you ever had to choose between keeping something you love close and doing what is best for it? What did you do, and why?
Word List
- ruins
- What is left of very old buildings or monuments after parts of them have fallen down.
- burial mound
- A large hill of earth or stones that people long ago piled up over a grave.
- terrace
- A flat, level area built on a slope, like the platforms where the giant statues stand on the mountaintop.
- threshing ground
- A wide, flat open space in a village where farmers beat harvested crops to separate the grain.
- ranger
- A person whose job is to look after and guard a park or protected site.
- witness
- Someone who saw something happen and can say that it is true.
Activity Idea
On a sunny day, stand a pencil or stick upright outdoors or on a sunny windowsill, and mark the tip of its shadow in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon, writing the time beside each mark. Then talk about how Lily could predict where the shade will move next to keep Honey in the sun (never look straight at the sun).
Completion Rewards
What you'll earn when you finish this story: