Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A story

Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A story
Richard Bach

Russell Munson

The complete edition of a timeless classic, includes the recently rediscovered Part Four and ‘Last Words’ by Richard Bach.Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the most celebrated inspirational fable of our time, tells the story of a bird determined to be more than ordinary.‘Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again,’ writes author Richard Bach in this allegory about a unique bird named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. ‘For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.’ Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes this story soar.This bestselling modern classic is a fable about seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe or neighbourhood finds your ambition threatening (at one point our beloved gull is even banished from his flock). By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan learns the meaning of love and kindness and gets the ultimate payoff – transcendence.The dreamy illustrations by Russell Munson provide just the right illustrations for this spirituality classic that has inspired thousands of readers to follow their own path in life and so fulfill their true potential.

Copyright (#ulink_ce842f48-c358-5d47-a8cf-b69ecdc71451)

HarperThorsons

an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Turnstone Press 1972

This edition published in the US by Scribner 2014

Published in Great Britain by HarperThorsons 2015

Copyright © Sabryna A. Bach 1970

Copyright renewed © Sabryna A. Bach 1998

New material copyright © Sabryna A. Bach 2014

Photographs copyright © Russell Munson 1970

Photographs copyright renewed © Russell Munson 1998

New photographs copyright © Russell Munson 2014

Photograph on dedication page copyright © Sabryna A. Bach 2014

Richard Bach asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Interior design by Joan Stoliar

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780006490340

Ebook Edition © JULY ISBN: 9780008162986

Version: 2015-09-08

Dedication (#ulink_bbc7b008-63f9-5887-a0c1-82ad88bb0d13)

To the real Jonathan Seagull, who lives within us all

JonathanLivingstonSeagull.com (http://www.jonathanlivingstonseagull.com/)

Contents

Cover (#u795d2335-3f28-5b10-b397-94188c7631e4)

Title Page (#u63efdd2f-2eeb-5be7-ad6d-ca275bbf9d90)

Copyright (#ulink_0198e159-2244-5c62-861f-242698eb6af1)

Dedication (#ulink_dc6eed08-eafb-55ea-b2ab-472a7038e318)

Part One (#ulink_4a57ee80-9ab7-518e-b8f0-edf297557c20)

Part Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Last Words (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Part One (#ulink_dadf0497-212f-5359-9c2c-d65f87843a4c)

It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea.

A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water, and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning.

But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to hold a painful hard twisting curve through his wings. The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one … single … more … inch … of … curve~…. Then his feathers ruffled, he stalled and fell.

Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor.

But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve—slowing, slowing, and stalling once more—was no ordinary bird.

Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight—how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.

This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed as Jonathan spent whole days alone, making hundreds of low-level glides, experimenting.