Week 2 Story: The Unruly Bird (alt. title - The Cocky Cock)

Find this story on my Indian Epics Portfolio blog: Link

File:Page 3 illustration from The Fables of Æsop (Jacobs).png
Image source: Wikipedia
There once were two cocks, one older than the other, born near a school for young brahmins. The Bodhisattva was the master of this school, and he had five hundred disciples. The older of these cocks had been taken by the school as a chick. He grew up with the brahmins and was taught how to crow only in the morning so that the young boys knew when to wake for their studies. This cock had learned quickly and pleased both the Bodhisattva and all of the disciples.
The cock who lived with the young boys was great friends with the other young cock who lived on the outskirts of the school. When the trained cock was available, he would go talk to his friend. He often tried to persuade the young cock to learn the art of crowing so that he too could one day please the brahmins. “Young friend”, said the old cock, “You must let me teach you how to crow properly so that the Bodhisattva will take you into his school when I am gone. I am old and will not live forever. Learn now so that you have no need to struggle later on.”
“Good companion, you always worry too much”, the young cock assured. “If there ever comes a time for me to go to the school, I am sure that I will learn quickly enough. I may not have been raised by the brahmins since I was a chick as you were, but I am also a quick learner.”
The old cock did not believe what his old friend was telling him. “You are good at many things, young one, but you are also so very stubborn. You may know how to crow loudly, but you have never been good at following directions. I am afraid that this will get you into trouble.” The young cock was not worried one bit, and continued to refuse the older cock’s offer of crowing lessons.
Surely enough, the older of the cocks became ill and had a difficult time performing his daily task of crowing to wake the boys. He asked his young friend once more if he would learn the skill of crowing, but the young cock refused. “I am thankful for our many years of friendship, good companion. Nevertheless, I think you worry too much. You should focus on your health before you worry about me, for I am young and strong and not worried about myself one bit.”
The older cock lived for a few more weeks, and eventually succumbed to his illness. The brahmins found the younger cock on the edge of the yard and took him into the school. “I will not mess this up. I know I can perform my duty well”, the cock assured himself.
The next morning, the young cock crowed at the time he thought the young boys should wake, but it was too early. The young boys were already displeased by the young cock’s performance. “Okay, I shall make sure to crow later tomorrow.” The day after, the cock crowed at the right time. “Today shall be a good day, for I have crowed on time and the young brahmins are pleased with me!”
However, it proved to be not only a bad day for the young cock, but a bad week. The young cock seemed to crow for various reasons, and did not comprehend how much this irked the young boys. He would crow in excitement when he was fed, or in sorrow when he remembered his old friend. “Bodhisattva”, said one young brahmin to his master, “the young cock does not understand his task. He is only to crow in the morning so that we may know that it is time to study, but he crows all the time. I heard him crowing in the middle of the night! He is a much slower learned than the old cock. Perhaps he is not trainable since we did not take him as a chick.” The Bodhisattva nodded in comprehension.
The young brahmin who had brought the issue to the Bodhisattva decided to give the young cock two more days to learn his duties. “I cannot mess this up!”, cried the young cock. “They are so displeased with me. I should have listened to my old friend. How silly I have been!”
The young cock tried his best over the next two days to learn his duty properly. He was doing quite well until he caught his feather on an object and cried out in pain. “I have made another mistake!”, thought the young cock sorrowfully.
The young brahmin in charge of the cock came to find the foolish bird and wrung his neck.


Author’s note: I created this story from both of the “Unruly Monk” stories by Robert Chalmers in the anthology. The young cock in my story is similar to the young deer in The Self-Willed Deer. Both characters have the opportunity to learn, which would ensure their safety, respectively, but both refuse. The basic structure and characters in my story have come from Noisy Out of Season. Both of the anthology stories were very short and did not provide much context or dialogue, much like Aesop’s fables. I have greatly expanded on length and detail in my tale.


Chalmers, Robert. The Jataka: Volume 1. Link

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 16, 2017 at 10:41 PM

    I love how you combined the stories and gave them more detail and dialogue. What I especially like is how the young cock has a turn in his ways to where he actually wants to do his job well and makes the effort to do so. Something about that and his crowing for his lost friend makes him endearing despite his original arrogance. I do wonder why, after two days of doing his job well enough, they killed him on his next mistake. You would think that their frustration could have subsided by that time. Then again, two days may not be enough time to do so.

    I reread the original stories, and I had forgotten that these were stories teaching lessons to the monks of Jetavana (hence "Unruly Monks", Molly, duh!). It probably does not fit into your story, but what if you had included some detail of this being recounted as a story to teach some sort of moral?

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