Back to: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Jonathan starts Fletcher’s training and sees it flourish into a strong flier. Some time passes and gradually Jonathan has many more students. He trains all of them to think freely and conquer their own physical limitations.
He trains them hard but fairly. After months of training, Jonathan claims that they all must now return to the flock and teach others to embrace such freedom of flight. They all are reluctant to go back and Jonathan returns on its own.
Seeing him fly away, the students decide to follow their mentor. They all land near the shore where the rest of the flock thrives. They are met with a hostile and cold reception. Jonathan decides to concentrate on his students and continues to train them publicly.
As the days go by, the young gulls of the flock develop fascination toward Jonathan and its students. They assume Jonathan to be divine and want to learn from it.
Soon, Jonathan gets more young students eventually rising to several hundred. One day, Fletcher accidentally hits the rock while trying to avoid crashing into a young gull.
When it wakes up, it is attacked by the flock for being sinister in his desire to injure the young gull. Jonathan sees this and helps Fletcher escape. They both disappear into the thin air and reappear at a secure distance.
Fletcher realizes that Jonathan is not divine and it too can disappear like Jonathan. Furthermore, Jonathan advises him to become an instructor and describes Fletcher’s own training as complete. Passing on the responsibility to Fletcher, Jonathan says its final goodbye.
