The Proud Chicken

 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 bugs¹, rice, and green things to eat.

 

The largest one was called the King of the Chickens, because of all the hundreds in the flock² 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 wilderness³ 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 cowards⁴ 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 beetle⁵, and just as he was going to swallow it, the King flew at him in great anger, saying, "Beetles⁶ 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 mighty⁷ warrior⁸, 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 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" (cock-a-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 twilight⁹ 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 hopped¹⁰ up on a tree and sang some war songs. But suddenly an eagle who heard him, flew down and caught him in his talons¹¹ 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.

1 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 flock   

n.羊群，一群，大量；vi.群集，聚集，成群

参考例句：

• A flock of customers were waiting for the store to open.一群顾客在等候着商店开门。
• A few sheep have been lost from the flock.羊群里少了几只羊。

3 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

4 cowards   

胆小鬼，懦夫( coward的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cowards are not made of the same metal as heroes. 懦夫与英雄本质不同。
• All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. 所有其他寡头政治家，即使那些同我们相象的人，也都是些懦夫和伪君子。 来自英汉文学

5 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

6 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

8 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

9 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

10 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

11 talons   

n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部

参考例句：

• The fingers were curved like talons, but they closed on empty air. 他的指头弯得像鹰爪一样，可是抓了个空。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命
• The tiger has a pair of talons. 老虎有一对利爪。 来自辞典例句