The Goddess, The Young Girl, The Bull, and The Eagle

In a realm known as Symphonia, a young boy named Alex was adorned in princely attire and was walking alongside his best friend named Xion. Xion was wearing a white dress that matched her pure snow white hair. The two friends were happily holding hands as they traveled the pathway. The way they were going, they didn’t seem to have a particular destination in mind. A third person was accompanying them: an unnaturally tall woman who was wearing armor that showed she was a warrior and she was there to protect Alex and Xion. In her right hand, she was carrying a double sided spear. The name of this giant woman was Nadalia. Nadalia was a short distance behind Alex and Xion as she wanted to give them their personal space.

Alex and Xion were talking about all manner of things such as exploring their palace home, venturing out into the mountains off in the distance, diving down to the depths of the ocean next to their home, among other things. After some time, the three of them stopped in front of a statue. The statue was a stone carving of a young girl that had her hand held out with an eagle sitting on her arm and with a large bull standing right next to the girl. Alex, Xion and Nadine all looked at the statue in silence for a moment. Xion turned to Alex and asked “Hey, do you think you can tell me the story of those three again?” Alex smiled meekly and asked “You want to hear it again? You already know what happens.” Xion’s bright yellow eyes grew wide and with an air of excitement said “I know, but I always enjoy hearing you tell stories of the Goddesses time on earth.” Nadalia added “I myself have yet to hear this story and With Xion’s enthusiastic tone, it has made me want to hear the story as well.” Alex was surprised that his stalwart guardian wanted to hear the story as well. He asked “You too?” Xion and Nadalia both nodded in earnest. Left with no other choice, the young boy sighed and scratched the back of his head and said “Alright, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell the story again.”

The three of them sat down on the ground in front of the statue with their legs crossed. Alex cleared his throat and began his story. “It all started when the Goddess was still doing everything she could to make the earth a better place for every individual person. There was a place called Spain and this is where the girl lived. Her name was Valentina and she lived with her mother and father in their own villa. It was said that Valentina’s parents made a decent living selling produce and knitting quilts. They even had their own farm, but not too many animals. Valentina was just like any other girl, growing up and living her life day by day. It wasn't until one day when she went into town to go buy groceries for her parents that things changed. Valentina had a few things to pick up and she was going to have to prepare things for dinner since both her parents would be out all day making deliveries. The young girl quickly bought the groceries she needed and hurried home, only to find that there was a bull standing in front of the barn. What was even more peculiar was that there was an eagle sitting on the horn of the bull and the bull didn’t seem to mind one bit. Valentina quickly dropped the groceries off in the house and returned to admire the two animals. Even for her age, she knew that both of the animals were not native to Spain. Apparently, the bull was a rare species called the Ankole-Watusi cow which ws from some place called Africa, I think. The bull had managed to walk all the way from Africa to Spain and it’s unclear why it decided to make that long journey. But part way through its trip to Spain, it encountered and befriended an eagle which had flown from a place called the Philippines. The two animals made their way to Spain for some reason, but no one knows why, no one except for the Goddess. The girl decided right then and there that she was going to look after the bull and the eagle, but she wanted to first see if she would be allowed to even approach them. After she had put her groceries down, Valentia made her way to the bull and when she was close enough to garner its attention, the bull and the eagle both focused on the young girl and nothing else. She didn’t make any sudden movements and approached as slowly as she could. Neither the bull nor the eagle backed away from her, but merely watched her. When Valentina got close enough, she stretched her arm out to see if the bull would allow her to pet it. The bull lowered its head to show that it was friendly towards her and the eagle followed suit. Valentina was relieved to know that neither of the animals were hostile to her. She had spent most of her time for the rest of the day with the bull and the eagle and she forgot entirely about helping prepare dinner for her parents. Her mother and father went looking for her and finally found her inside the barn with the two animals. Valentina tried to explain to her parents why there was a random bull and eagle in their barn, but she couldn’t explain where they came from or how they got to the farm. It was on this day that everything changed for Valentina.”

“Valentina’s parents weren’t thrilled about having two animals come to their villa and they said that they could stay the night, but they were going to have to leave the very next day. Valentina tried to oppose her parents, but it didn’t go in her favor. Her father had a way with yelling that would make her cry if he got loud and angry enough and with her trying to protest, it didn’t take much for him to get to that point. She went to bed in tears that night as she did not want to give up the animals. Early the next morning, she got up before her parents and headed into town in order to buy food for both the bull and the eagle. Because her parents gave her an allowance, she was able to buy her own things, but after purchasing what she thought was adequate food for the two animals, she soon realized that she was not going to be able to support them for very long as her allowance would quickly run out and she was much too young to get a job. By the time she returned home, her parents were awake and they were quite upset that Valentina would waste her money on animals that were going to be leaving that day. Valentina took a different approach to trying to keep the animals and she said that she would take responsibility, but no matter what case she presented, her parents were resolute in their decision. They had called for something called animal control and when they arrived, they said that the bull and the eagle weren’t from Spain. Animal control went on to say that the bull was from Africa and the eagle from the Philippines. They went on to say that staying in Spain wouldn’t be beneficial for their health and that they would die much sooner than they would if they remained in their respective native homes.They were going to try and take them back to their homes, but Valentina fought against it. She was determined to keep the bull and the eagle and she placed herself in front of the animals stating that they were going to have to go through her to get the animals. Her father wasn’t going to put up with her antics and he pulled her away from where she stood.Valentina didn’t go quietly though. She kicked and screamed and tossed and turned, doing anything and everything she could to get out of her father’s grasp. What came next was something that no one was expecting. The bull and the eagle were becoming aggressive even as the animal control tried to pacify them. Due to the bull having horns that stretched out to eight feet and were incredibly sharp, it made it very difficult for anyone to get close without running into the horns and risking getting injured. The bull made sure to keep everyone at bay while the eagle flew close to the ceiling of the barn and would occasionally swoop down and screech, making everyone think it was going to attack. Valentina saw this as a sign and pleaded with her parents to let her keep the animals since she and the animals wanted to stay. Animal control went to get their tranquilizer guns to subdue the two animals, but even with that, the bull and the eagle knew to try and make things as difficult as possible. Even after being shot with the tranquilizer guns, neither of the animals were subdued and continued to move about as if nothing happened. This bewildered animal control and they said they were to return the next day with heavier doses. Sure enough, animal control returned and they used the heavier doses on both the bull and the eagle to no avail. Left with no other choice, animal control figured that the only thing left was to put down the animals. Valentina was adamant about them killing the bull and the eagle and she fought with every last ounce of strength she had in order to protect the animals. It was a brawl between herself against her parents, but she freed herself and once again shielded the animals, saying that she wasn’t going to let anyone hurt them. Animal control wasn’t going to a young girl and they had no choice but to leave the situation to the parents. Valentinas’s parents were unsure of what else they could do except reason with their daughter and let her leave the animals alone. She said she wouldn’t leave them as she didn’t want to risk anyone sneaking up when she wasn’t around and killing them. Somehow, Valentina convinced her parents to take the last bit of her allowance and head into town and buy food for the animals. The young girl was careful to space out the food as best she could so that it would last as long as possible. When the food ran out, Valentina never left the barn again. Days turned to weeks and both the animals and Valentina were looking very ragged. Her parents begged her to leave the animals, but she was determined to stick with them, even if she were to die. There came a time when Valentina knew she wasn’t going to stay alive much longer and before her appeared the Goddess. Her radiance and beauty shocked Valentina but she wasn’t afraid. The Goddess said that because of her unwavering determination to protect the animals and her loyalty to them, she would be remembered for all eternity. Valentina had a very peaceful death along with the bull and the eagle.”

Xion and Nadalia were left speechless by the story and Alex said “That’s the story of the girl, the bull, and the eagle.” After taking some time to process the story, Xion and Nadalia stood back up and stared at the statue with a newfound respect for the young girl. Not long after,the three of them continued on their way, enjoying the rest of the beautiful day.