Warm southern night. The narrator and the wise old man Rahim are sitting by a large stone between the mountains and the sea. Beyond the mountains you can already see the radiance of the rising moon. The flames of a bonfire illuminate a cracked side of a stone, and the ear of a newly caught fish is cooked on a bonfire.

The narrator asks Rahim to tell a tale. At first, the old man does not agree - he wants to be persuaded. Finally, he begins to recite the song with a melodious, dull and rhythmic recitative.

***

High in the mountains, in a damp and dark gorge, Already lay and looked at the sea. The sun was shining above the gorge, and a swift stream rushed deep below. Suddenly, the mortally wounded Falcon fell into this gorge.

With a short cry, he fell to the ground and beat his chest in impotent anger against a hard stone ...

Frightened Already decided to crawl away, but quickly realized that the bird had only a few minutes left to live. Then he crawled to the Falcon and hissed: "What, are you dying?"

The falcon really was dying. He gloriously lived and regretted only one thing: that he would never see the sky again. The falcon pitied Uzh, because he cannot see the sky so close. He grinned and objected that the sky is an empty place, and to him, "it’s beautiful, warm and damp here."

Fly or crawl, the end is known: everyone will fall to stone, everything will be ashes ...

The falcon started up and exclaimed longingly that before death he would like to ascend to heaven for the last time, to press the enemy to the wounds on his chest so that he would choke on his blood. The falcon dreamed of a happy battle.

He really thought that it must be “pleasant to live” in the sky, and suggested that the falcon come to the edge of the gorge and rush down - maybe then the wings will raise the bird and it can fly up.

And the Falcon faltered and, proudly shouting, went to the precipice, sliding its claws on the slime of stone.

Spreading his wings and sighing with all his chest, he threw himself off a cliff and fell down like a stone, "breaking wings, losing feathers." At the bottom of the gorge the bird was caught in a stormy stream, washed the blood, wrapped in foam and sped into the sea.

For a long time I lay in the gorge and thought about Falcon's passion for heaven. He wanted to know that he saw the Falcon “in this desert without bottom and edge”, and why people like him “embarrass the soul with their love for flying to heaven”.

Already decided to take off at least for a while, curled up in a ring "and pulled it into the air."

Born to crawl - cannot fly! Forgetting this, he fell on the stones, but did not kill himself, but laughed ...

Already decided that the charm of flying - in the fall. He began to laugh at birds that do not know the earth, but “seek life in the sultry wilderness,” where there is a lot of light, but there is neither food, nor “support for the living body”. He decided that behind their pride, the birds hide "unsuitability for the work of life." But you can't fool it - he already saw the sky and took off. Now he only believes more strongly in himself - "the earth is creation - I live by the earth." Proud of himself, he curled up on the rocks.

And the waves beat against the shore, and "a song about a proud bird rattled in their lion's roar."

To the madness of the brave we sing glory! The madness of the brave is the wisdom of life!

Let the Falcon die in battle with enemies, but the time will come when drops of his hot blood will light the hearts with a "crazy thirst for freedom, light."

***

Rahim is silent. The narrator reflects on what he heard and looks at the dark blue sky with a "golden pattern of stars." It seems to him that inexplicably sweet sounds are about to sound and tell about the secrets of the world, and then they will drag the soul behind them into the dark blue abyss.