THE FARM-YARD COCK AND THE WEATHER-COCK故事

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　　　　THE FARM-YARD COCK AND THE WEATHER-COCK故事
　　    THERE were two cocks- one on the dung-hill, the other on
　　    the roof. They were both arrogant, but which of the two
　　    rendered most service? Tell us your opinion- we'll keep to
　　    ours just the same though.
　　    The poultry yard was divided by some planks from another
　　    yard in which there was a dung-hill, and on the dung-hill lay
　　    and grew a large cucumber which was conscious of being a
　　    hot-bed plant.
　　    "One is born to that," said the cucumber to itself. "Not
　　    all can be born cucumbers; there must be other things, too.
　　    The hens, the ducks, and all the animals in the next yard are
　　    creatures too. Now I have a great opinion of the yard cock on
　　    the plank; he is certainly of much more importance than the
　　    weather-cock who is placed so high and can't even creak, much
　　    less crow. The latter has neither hens nor chicks, and only
　　    thinks of himself and perspires verdigris. No, the yard cock
　　    is really a cock! His step is a dance! His crowing is music,
　　    and wherever he goes one knows what a trumpeter is like! If he
　　    would only come in here! Even if he ate me up stump, stalk,
　　    and all, and I had to dissolve in his body, it would be a
　　    happy death," said the cucumber.
　　    In the night there was a terrible storm. The hens, chicks,
　　    and even the cock sought shelter; the wind tore down the
　　    planks between the two yards with a crash; the tiles came
　　    tumbling down, but the weather-cock sat firm. He did not even
　　    turn round, for he could not; and yet he was young and freshly
　　    cast, but prudent and sedate. He had been born old, and did
　　    not at all resemble the birds flying in the air- the sparrows,
　　    and the swallows; no, he despised them, these mean little
　　    piping birds, these common whistlers. He admitted that the
　　    pigeons, large and white and shining like mother-o'-pearl,
　　    looked like a kind of weather-cock; but they were fat and
　　    stupid, and all their thoughts and endeavours were directed to
　　    filling themselves with food, and besides, they were tiresome
            
            

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　　    things to converse with. The birds of passage had also paid
　　    the weather-cock a visit and told him of foreign countries, of
　　    airy caravans and robber stories that made one's hair stand on
　　    end. All this was new and interesting; that is, for the first
　　    time, but afterwards, as the weather-cock found out, they
　　    repeated themselves and always told the same stories, and
　　    that's very tedious, and there was no one with whom one could
　　    associate, for one and all were stale and small-minded.
　　    "The world is no good!" he said. "Everything in it is so
　　    stupid."
　　    The weather-cock was puffed up, and that quality would
　　    have made him interesting in the eyes of the cucumber if it
　　    had known it, but it had eyes only for the yard cock, who was
　　    now in the yard with it.
　　    The wind had blown the planks, but the storm was over.
　　    "What do you think of that crowing?" said the yard cock to
　　    the hens and chickens. "It was a little rough- it wanted
　　    elegance."
　　    And the hens and chickens came up on the dung-hill, and
　　    the cock strutted about like a lord.
　　    "Garden plant!" he said to the cucumber, and in that one
　　    word his deep learning showed itself, and it forgot that he
　　    was pecking at her and eating it up. "A happy death!"
　　    The hens and the chickens came, for where one runs the
　　    others run too; they clucked, and chirped, and looked at the
　　    cock, and were proud that he was of their kind.
　　    "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" he crowed, "the chickens will grow up
　　    into great hens at once, if I cry it out in the poultry-yard
　　    of the world!"
　　    And hens and chicks clucked and chirped, and the cock
　　    announced a great piece of news.
　　    "A cock can lay an egg! And do you
　　know what's in that
　　    egg? A basilisk. No one can stand the sight of such a thing;
　　    people know that, and now you know it too- you know what is in
　　    me, and what a champion of all cocks I am!"
　　    With that the yard cock flapped his wings, made his comb
            
            

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　　    swell up, and crowed again; and they all shuddered, the hens
　　    and the little chicks- but they were very proud that one of
　　    their number was such a champion of all cocks. They clucked
　　    and chirped till the weather-cock heard; he heard it; but he
　　    did not stir.
　　    "Everything is very stupid," the weather-cock said to
　　    himself. "The yard cock lays no eggs, and I am too lazy to do
　　    so; if I liked, I could lay a wind-egg. But the world is not
　　    worth even a wind-egg. Everything is so stupid! I don't want
　　    to sit here any longer."
　　    With that the weather-cock broke off; but he did not kill
　　    the yard cock, although the hens said that had been his
　　    intention. And what is the moral? "Better to crow than to be
　　    puffed up and break off!
　　    THE END