The Old Hen Who Set The Alarm
Once upon a time, in Jiashan of China there lived a person whose surname was
Kong. Once Mr. Kong paid a visit to a relative whom he had not seen for a long
time. They talked and talked until nightfall. Warm-heartedly the relative invited
him to stay for dinner. Since they rarely saw each other, the relative attentively
prepared thedinner. He wanted to slaughter the old hen whom he had been keeping
for years and cook it for Mr. Kong.
Off he went to the hen-coop and seized the old hen. The old hen drew out her
throat and cried like anything when she knew that she was faced with imminent
disaster. Upon seeing the pitiful scene, Mr. Kong's sympathy was arouse and
so he quickly told his relative,
"Please don't kill the hen!"
"But this will make up a dish for you!"
"Don't worry, I'll eat anything you give me."
"I should try my best to serve you since we rarely have a chance to get
together."
"Really, you don't have to... I, I..."
"C'on, don't say 'I... I...'. Please make yourself at home."
Mr. Kong gave a gaze at the hen. He saw that her eyes was sad and tears were
on the verge of falling off. Suddenly Mr. Kong determined to make a lie of "good-will".
"The case is,... I have been on vegetarian diet recently."
"Oh! Really? Why haven't I heard you say that before?"
"You've forgotten. We haven't seen each other for a long time.
Really, please don't kill the hen."
"Alright! Since you are on vegetarian diet, we might as well join you for
a vegetarian dinner!"
It was late after dinner. The relative asked Mr. Kong to stay overnight.Because
Mr. Kong was tired, he was soon in his "dream world" as soon as his
head hit the pillow. He was sleeping soundly, when suddenly, he felt a peckon
the face which woke him up. He opened his eyes and had a look. There he saw
the old hen whom he had saved that evening. Mr. Kong could not help be annoyed.
"My old hen, don't disturb me, I want to sleep." Then he went to sleep
immediately after he said that. However, the old hen did not listen to him.
She again pecked him and woke him up.
Mr. Kong was becoming very annoyed. So he raised himself and sat on the bed
and said to her, "My old hen, you are so ungrateful.I've saved you from
being killed today. Yet tonight you aren't even kind enough to allow me a good
nights sleep." After rebuking the old hen and as he was just about to lie
down on the bed he unexpectedly heard a tremendous noise. He was so shocked
that he brokeinto a cold-sweat when he was able to look at what had happened.
A heavy block of stone had fallen off from the rotten roof beam onto his pillow!
Had he been lying down on the bed he would have been killed. Gratefully, he
saw the old hen leave and he understood the reason for the old hen's behaviour.
After this event Mr. Kong really became a vegetarian. He also constantlytold
people about this story to persuade his relative and friends to avoid killing.
Extract of The Buddhist Children's Stories, page 1-4, published by TheWhite
Cloud Cultural Centre, Taipei Taiwan