Tenho certeza de que isso é "He That Hath Wings" por Edmond Hamilton .
Você pode tê-lo lido na antologia "Young mutants" editada por Isaac Asimov em 1984 (que eu acho bastante renomada), embora a novela em si remonta a muito mais cedo e tenha sido publicada pela primeira vez. na edição de julho de 1938 do Weird Tales , que está disponível gratuitamente no Internet Archive .
- Era sobre um homem com asas que sobrevoou uma fazenda e foi abatido pelo fazendeiro, confundindo-o com algum pássaro, eu acho.
He was on his spring flight north, and at dusk felt hunger. He made out in the twilight a suburban mansion amid extensive orchards and gardens, and swooped down toward it with ideas of early berries. He was very near the trees in the twilight when a gun roared from the ground. David felt a blinding stab of pain through his head, and knew nothing more.
- Sua filha cuidou do homem de volta à saúde,
The girl asked gently, "Are you feeling better now? The doctor says you'll soon be as good as ever." She added, "This is my father, Wilson Hall, I'm Ruth Hall."
David stared up at her. He thought he had never seen anyone so beautiful as this shy, soft, dark girl with her curling black hair and tender, worried brown eyes.
- eles acabaram se casando, mas ele teve que cortar suas asas.
She said, "David, there is a way in which we could marry and be happy, if you love me enough to do it."
"I'll do anything!" he cried. "You know that."
She hesitated.
"Your wings - they're what keep us apart. [...] But if you were to have your wings taken off ---"
- Algum tempo no futuro, suas asas começam a crescer e ele decide voar, mas suas asas não são strongs o suficiente para apoiá-lo.
For the wings were growing out again, day by day. [...]
Could he fly at all, now? Would these poor, stunted, second wings even bear him aloft for a few minutes? No, they wouldn't - he knew they wouldn't!
- Ele acaba caindo em um lago (ou em algum corpo de água) e a história termina.
So that when his tired wings began at last to fail, and he began to sink lower and lower toward the silvered waters, there was no fear and no regret in his breast. It was what he had always expected and wanted, at the end, and he was drowsily glad - glad to be falling as all they with wings must finally fall, after a brief lifetime of wild, sweet flight, dropping contentedly to rest.