The hen, of course, thinks this baby will be a chick. The mother never does, but when Straggler finds her, he agrees to stand guard while Sprout is brooding. One day, while wandering the fields, she finds this egg and decides to sit on it until the mother returns. Even though he isn’t able to convince the other animals to let Sprout stay on the farm, he is able to help her fulfill one wish: To sit on an egg and watch a baby hatch from it. He is allowed to stay on the farm, but he keeps his distance from the other ducks. Like Sprout, Straggler is a misfit, a wild duck among domesticated ones. While in the open grave, she meets Straggler, a mallard duck who also lives on the farm. “Nobody wants you!”ĭespite the harsh reality that Sprout has to face outside the coop, she doesn’t have to face it alone. To make matters worse, after she narrowly escapes from a menacing weasel in an open grave, the other farmyard animals, led by an arrogant rooster, reject her. However, she soon discovers that her new freedom comes with a loss of comforts such as shelter and food.
After refusing to lay any more eggs for the farmer who owns her, she becomes “culled” and released from her chicken coop. (Nov.Early in Sun-mi Hwang’s novel The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, the main character, a hen named Sprout, learns about sacrifice. Spare but evocative line drawings by the Japanese artist Nomoco add to the subtle charm of this slim volume. The book explores the joys of parenthood and the sacrifices required to nurture the next generation, the healing bonds of friendship, and the tug-of-war between nature and nurture. His lifesaving friendship enables Sprout to achieve one of her dreams: she hatches an egg she discovers in a briar patch, at first unaware that her offspring is not a chick, but a duckling. Determined “to do something with her life,” Sprout escapes from her cage into the barnyard, but she’s shunned by all its denizens except another outsider like herself, a mallard duck called Straggler. The hen encapsulates her longing in the name Sprout, which she gives to herself, signifying the fecundity of nature. The protagonist is a philosophically restless hen who yearns to raise a chick, but her eggs are collected daily by the farmer’s wife. This is the lesson of this simply told but absorbing fable, a two million–copy bestseller in South Korea, and a story that will appeal to readers of self-help.
Yet it’s possible to achieve happiness, and to make a positive contribution to humanity, if one perseveres. The road of life is paved with hardships, even tragedy.
0 kommentar(er)
