The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang

Author:Sun-mi Hwang
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-11-25T16:00:00+00:00

CERTAINLY A DUCK

The road to the reservoir was rugged. It marked the beginning of their wretched life as wanderers in the fields without the protection of the gatekeeper or the barn, the weasel always on their minds. Sprout asked Straggler to give her courage. She had to protect Baby until he was grown. She’d always talked to herself, but now she could talk to the mallard, who remained in her heart.

Baby grew tired before they reached the reservoir; they had to rest. Sprout led him to a rice paddy. They drank from the irrigation ditch and caught grasshoppers between rice stalks to fill their bellies. Baby soon fell asleep under the shade of curly docks. Sprout, who had spent the previous night with her eyes wide-open, fell into a sweet, irresistible slumber.

“What is this?” A loud quacking assaulted her ears, but Sprout couldn’t open her eyes. Her eyelids felt heavy, as if they had been welded together. “You have no idea how dangerous this is!” someone scolded.

“My goodness, what was I thinking?” Sprout jumped to her feet.

The leader of the ducks was looking down at them from the top of the hill. The other ducks were behind him. “Why did you run away? You’d be safer in the barn.”

“Well, I just . . .” Sprout hesitated. Maybe she shouldn’t tell him the yard wasn’t safe for them. What good would it do to tell him that she’d figured out the farmer and his wife’s plans? “I felt bad that you were fighting because of us. We’re going to the reservoir.”

Sprout climbed up the hill with her duckling and started toward the reservoir again. The ducks crowded around Baby. The female ducks in particular couldn’t tear themselves away from the adorable duckling, but Baby followed only Sprout.

“Thank you for hatching the egg,” one of the ducks said to Sprout. “He’s the cutest ever! Our eggs are sold or go to the incubator, so none of us has had the experience of having a baby. What a blessing that there’s a baby in the family!”

Sprout stopped. “Family?” she snapped. “I don’t plan on giving you the baby.”

“What? What do you think you’re going to do with him? You’re a hen.”

“I’m his mom. They’ll clip his wings. You think I’m going to let him go back to the barnyard?”

“That’s why you ran away? Don’t be scared. It doesn’t hurt at all. It just stings a little. He might not even feel it. So he won’t fly away.”

“So he won’t fly away?”

“This baby looks more like a wild duck than one of us. If you don’t domesticate him, he’ll be in danger. He’ll forever be a wanderer like Straggler and end up killed.”

Sprout continued on silently. Straggler’s end was tragic, but she wouldn’t even consider giving Baby away.

The leader followed her and persisted in trying to convince her. “Think about Straggler. He was always alone. It’s hard to live in between, as neither wild nor domesticated. He couldn’t change his fate. He lost his mate to the weasel and wounded his wing.

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