The chick was picked up by my youngest sister while she was looking after the buffaloes.
I could not figure out how loudly the kids had shouted from the backs of their buffaloes forcing the eagle to loosen its claw and let go of the wretched chicken. Oh to think what a wreck it was, dropped from such a height of dozens of meters. No other kids, except my youngest sister, then seven years old, were going to pick it up.
At first, my older sister told my youngest sister to throw it to the cat, kaiko; I preferred using it as a prize for the cat and Mumu, the dog, to fight over. My youngest sister was adamant against both proposals, and since she was the pet of the family, she got my mother's support. The chick was thus saved.
"Dogs heal their flesh wound, chickens heal their broken bones."It was a miracle to have survived after such a fall, and more or less in good shape like that! So Lame chick was the most suitable name. She grew up with a pair of mismatched legs, one longer than the other, and her right wing sagging. That wretched shape proved a real misery when it came to struggling for ood and prey. She was an object for Kaiko and Mumu to torment. The cat, layhing in the sun, would strike a blow with her paw when Lame passed by. The dog looking up from his bone and bark real loud when he saw Lame searching for rice in a pile of straw. As for the brood of chickens, Lame appeared as a 'karma' unable to integrate into the community. Like all hens do, Lame would react on the slightest threat with total submission, hiding her head under her wing and limping past, only to fall every few steps, striving to get up and then stumbling again...She was growing steadily, though.
Then for a while, Lame was out of sight. She was searched for but soon forgotten by my sister who was preoccupied playing with her peers. It was just as summed she had been caught by fox, a wolf, or even by Kaiko or Mumu especially the later might turn fox.
Suddenly one morning, Lame reappeared in the courtyard, accompanied by a newly-hatched chick, her own chick. No one knew how Lame, with such a wretched shape like hers, could have borne the cock's weight when they made love chicken-style. No one knew where she had laid her egg. The Lame hen and her chick appeared unexpected among the brood and were accepted as a miracle. To think just what a hostile situation Lame alone was in before. Only the dog and the cat were against it.
It was a case of "ugly mother, beautiful daughter". The chick was growing fast into a beauty. Its feathers were very smooth and fine. Lame was very proud; she kept the choice morsels for her chick. About a month later another unexpected event happened. For reasons unknown, Kaiko, out of sunbathing, jumped down into the courtyard and pawed at the chick. The chick could do nothing but lie flat and wait for death. Right the, Lame arrived, leapt up, kicked at the cat's face and began to peck ferociously at it. Enormous as she was, the wicked cat was frightened out of her senses. She tried to duck the blows and dashed to her hideout with her tail between her legs. No one could understand how Lame managed to beat the cat with her deformed body.
Lame's deformity was soon forgotten and now she would take her place squarely in the courtyard, proudly calling for her chick, who was putting on flesh and growing all the more beautiful. The chick was now bigger than her mother.
Time passed by quickly. The rainy season arrived. Worms floated out of the flooded ground, serving as prey to the chickens. One day, Lame caught a big worm, pulled it out of the ground and called her chick out to share the game. The chick rushed to the scene, got hold of the worm, and ran away with it. Lame followed. But all a sudden, the chick turned around and gave Lame a big kick. Lame fell flat. She tried to get up but failed on the slippery ground.
After that, Lame returned to her old self, a complete wreck subject to torment from the cat and the dog. The brood of chicken kept her at a distance. Lame would stand alone in a corner of the courtyard from where she would occasionally cast a look at the fattest, prettiest hen in the brood which used to be her own chick.
Tuong Long
