“The boy wanted to travel,” said Legolas. “So he climbed up to the Eagle’s Eyrie and, when one of the birds took flight, he jumped onto its back. But the Eagle soared too high for a mortal man to bear—to where the air is thin and cold—and the boy froze to death, fell from the Eagle's back, and landed in the thorn bush.”

This puzzle usually concerns an East European peasant stowing away in the undercarriage of a plane bound for the USA, who freezes to death on the journey and falls into the desert when the plane lowers its wheels, prior to landing.