1、TheFarm-YardCockandWeathercockOnce there were two cocks, one on a dunghill and one on the roof, both of them conceited; but which of the two did the most? Tell us what you think - well keep our own opinion, anyway.The chicken yard was separated by a board fence from another yard, where there lay a m
2、anure heap, and on this grew a great cucumber, which was fully aware of being a forcing - bed plant.Thats a privilege of birth, said the Cucumber to herself. Not everyone can be born a cucumber; there must be other living things, too. The fowls, the ducks, and the cattle in the next yard are creatur
3、es, too, I suppose. I now look up to the Farmyard Cock on the fence. He certainly is much more important than the Weathercock way up there, who cant even creak, much less crow, who has no hens or chickens, who thinks only about himself and perspires rust. No, the Farmyard Cock - hes a real cock! His
4、 walk is like a dance, to hear him crow is like music, and whenever he comes around people can hear what a trumpeter he is! If he would only come over here! Even if he should eat me up, stalk and all, it would be a happy death! said the Cucumber.That night the weather turned very bad. The hens and c
5、hickens and even the Cock himself sought shelter. The wind blew down the fence between the two yards with a terrific crash; tiles fell from the roof, but the Weathercock sat firm. He didnt even turn around, because he couldnt. Although he was young and just cast he was very steady and sedate. He had
6、 been born old, and wasnt a bit like the sparrows and swallows that fly through the vault of heaven. He despised them; Ordinary piping birds of no importance! he called them. He admitted that the pigeons were big and glossy, and gleamed like mother-of-pearl, and almost looked like some kind of weath
7、ercock, but then they were fat and stupid, and all they could think of was stuff themselves with food.Besides, theyre such terrible bores to associate with, said the Weathercock.The migratory birds had also visited the Weathercock and told him tales of foreign lands - of caravans in the sky and fier
8、ce robber stories of encounters with birds of prey - and that was new and interesting the first time, but the Weathercock knew that afterward they kept repeating themselves, and that became monotonous.Theyre boring, and everything is dull. Nobodys fit to associate with; all of them are tiresome and
9、dull. The world is no good! he said. The whole thing is a bore!The Weathercock was what you might call blas, and that would certainly have made him interesting to the Cucumber if she had known about it; but she had eyes only for the Farmyard Cock, who had now come into her own yard.The wind had blow
10、n down the fence, but the lightning and the thunder were over.Hows that for crowing? the Farmyard Cock said to his hens and chicks. It was a little rough perhaps - not elegant enough.And the hens and chickens picked at the manure heap, while the Cock strutted to and fro on it like a knight.Garden pl
11、ant! he said to the Cucumber; and with that word she understood his great importance and forgot that he was pecking at her and eating her up - a happy death!Then the hens came and the chickens came, for when one of them runs somewhere the rest run, too; they clucked and chirped and gazed at the Cock
12、 and were proud that he belonged to them.Cock-a-doodle-doo! he crowed. The chickens will immediately grow up to be fine large fowls if I make a noise like that in the chicken yard of the world!And the hens and chickens answered him with their clucking and their chirping. And then the Cock told them
13、a great piece of news. A cock can lay an egg, and do you know what that egg has inside it? In that egg theres a basilisk. But no one can stand the sight of a basilisk. People know that, and now you know it, too - you know whats in me, and what a wonderful fellow I am!With that the Farmyard Cock flap
14、ped his wings, swelled up his comb, and crowed again. All the hens shivered, and the little chickens shivered, but they were tremendously proud that one of their kind should be such a cock of the world. They clucked and they chirped until the Weathercock could hear it; he heard it, but he never move
15、d.Its all stupid nonsense! said a voice within the Weathercock. The Farmyard Cock never lays eggs, and Im too lazy to do it. If I wanted to I could lay a wind egg; but the world isnt worth a wind egg. Its all stupid nonsense. And now I dont even want to sit here any longer.With that the Weathercock broke off; but he didnt fall on the Farmyard Cock and kill him, although he intended to! said the hens. And whats the moral of this? It is better to crow than to be stuck-up and break off!
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