Chinese Fables and Folk Stories/The Proud Chicken

THE PROUD CHICKEN

傲鷄

A widow named Hong-Mo lived in a little house near the market place. Every year she raised many hundreds of chickens, which she sold to support herself and her two children.

Each day the chickens went to the fields near by and hunted bugs, rice, and green things to eat.

The largest one was called the king of the chickens, because, of all the hundreds in the flock, he was the strongest. And for this reason he was the leader of them all.

He led the flock to new places for food. He could crow the loudest, and as he was the strongest, none dared oppose him in any way.

One day he said to the flock, "Let us go to the other side of the mountain near the wilderness to-day, and hunt rice, wheat, corn, and wild silkworms. There is not enough food here."

But the other chickens said, "We are afraid to go so far. There are foxes and eagles in the wilderness, and they will catch us."

The king of the chickens said, "It is better that all the old hens and cowards stay at home."

The king's secretary said, "I do not know fear. I will go with you." Then they started away together. When they had gone a little distance, the secretary found a beetle, and just as he was going to swallow it, the king flew at him in great anger, saying, "Beetles are for kings, not for common chickens. Why did you not give it to me?" So they fought together, and while they were fighting, the beetle ran away and hid under the grass where he could not be found.

And the secretary said, "I will not fight for you, neither will I go to the wilderness with you." And he went home again.

At sunset the king came home. The other chickens had saved the best roosting place for him; but he was angry because none of them had been willing to go to the wilderness with him, and he fought first with one and then with another.

He was a mighty warrior, and therefore none of them could stand up against him. And he pulled the feathers out of many of the flock.

At last the chickens said, "We will not serve this king any longer. We will leave this place. If Hong-Mo will not give us another home, we will stay in the vegetable garden. We will do that two or three nights, and see if she will not give us another place to live."

So the next day, when Hong-Mo waited at sunset for the chickens to come home, the king was the only one who came.

And she asked the king, "Where are all my chickens?"

But he was proud and angry, and said, "They are of no use in the world. I would not care if they always stayed away."

Hong-Mo answered, "You are not the only chicken in the world. I want the others to come back. If you drive them all away, you will surely see trouble."

But the king laughed and jumped up on the fence and crowed—"Nga-Un-Gan-Yu-Na" (coo-ka-doodle-doo-oo) in a loud voice. "I don't care for you! I don't care for you!"

Hong-Mo went out and called the chickens, and she hunted long through the twilight until the dark night came, but she could not find them. The next morning early she went to the vegetable garden, and there she found her chickens. They were glad to see her, and bowed their heads and flew to her.

Hong-Mo said, "What are you doing? Why do you children stay out here, when I have given you a good house to live in?"

The secretary told her all about the trouble with the king.

Hong-Mo said, "Now you must be friendly to each other. Come with me, and I will bring you and your king together. We must have peace here."

When the chickens came to where the king was, he walked about, and scraped his wings on the ground, and sharpened his spurs. His people had come to make peace, and they bowed their heads and looked happy when they saw their king. But he still walked about alone and would not bow.

He said, "I am a king—always a king. Do you know that? You bow your heads and think that pleases me. But what do I care? I should not care if there was never another chicken in the world but myself. I am king."

And he hopped up on a tree and sang some war songs. But suddenly an eagle who heard him, flew down and caught him in his talons and carried him away. And the chickens never saw their proud, quarrelsome king again.

Ee-Sze (Meaning): No position in life is so high that it gives the right to be proud and quarrelsome.