The Swan, The Chickens and The Cherry-Pi

”I hunger for cherry pie”, the Swan said. “Give me some, and you will live – say no, and your death will be gruesome”. All the Small Chickens stared at each other with fear in their eyes, hearts beating fast. No one dared say a thing. “Well,” the Swan said impatiently, “where is my ooey-gooey-cherry-pie?”

The Black Chicken was the one all the others hated, so they all pointed at him and shouted: “He ate it, he ate it!” The Swan turned to look at the Black Chicken and the Black Chicken felt as if the world was surely coming to its end. He gulped and hoped for the Earth to swallow him, so as his death would be fast and painless. It did not, and the Swan was slowly closing in on him, never letting her gaze of him, and starring him into the ground, it felt like.

“When there is nothing to lose, and Hell is the only thing before you, you can as well be brave”, the Black Chicken thought to himself. He then took a deep breath and strengthened his back and looked the Swan right in her eyes. “Yes, I ate your pie”, he said. “And you know what; it was de-lic-ious!”

The Swan was so taken aback by this that she stopped in her steps and looked the Black Chicken over. “Sooo”, she said slowly, “you ate my pie, did you.” She then smiled, cruelly. “And such a brave little boy, standing there, saying it right to my face. Fool!” The Swan snarled and swung around swiftly. She then swung back and within a second she had the Black Chicken by his throat.

The other chickens starred in horror as one second later the Swan spat the Black Chicken to the ground. He did not move. The Swan looked at the Chickens without pity. “I do know he lied, and I do know you set him up”, she said. “But I do not care, the only thing I care about is my cherry-pie”. She looked around at the chickens, silently, and then continued: “Now, bring me my cherry-pie.”

The chickens looked at each other in horror. Who would they pick out to blame next, when they did not find the cherry-pie? They remembered the Brave Black Chicken and knew that bravery was for naught. The Swan is merciless, and admires only strength. What can Small Chickens do to that?

The Smallest of the Small Chickens then stepped forward. “If we all stand together”, he said, “we are stronger than the Swan! Let’s stand together, let us fight!” he shouted, eyes gleaming. The other Small Chickens looked at each other and then they shouted, all as one “Yes!” They then turned to look at the Swan, who was waiting for her cherry-pie.

The Chickens marched towards the Swan, the Smallest Chicken in front. “Hey, Swan!” he shouted! “We want take this no more! Get your own cherry-pie and leave us alone!” The Swan looked the group over calmly, and then asked: “What is this?” The Smallest Chicken answered: “This is a Rebellion! We won’t take it no more! We won’t be our slaves!” “Is that so?” the Swan replied, not even close to losing her calm. The Smallest Chicken was starting to get uneasy, wondering why the Swan was not worried.

“If you do not let us go, we will hurt you, we are more and together stronger than you” the Smallest Chicken said, putting his chin high. A small smile started to form in the Swans eyes, she seemed bemused. “Oh”, she said simply. “I’ll tell you what,” she then continued, “I’ll be a sport and forget all about this episode, if you stop this immediately and bring me my cherry-pie!”

The Chickens could not believe what they were hearing – the Swan was not taking them seriously. AS one, they grew angry, and started to chant “Kill, kill, kill” and then they loosed all structure and planning and just rushed forward toward the Swan. As they came upon her, she yawned lazily and then said “guys, I’m sorry, there won’t be any cherry-pie, but there is as much chicken as anyone would want to eat”. At those words, a big group of swans came into sight from where they had been resting, in the shadows. Soon, there was no chicken to be seen.

Later, when the Swan was by herself, she contemplated the happenings. While it in all the stories always is the meek that inherits the Earth, and the Small that win over the Big, one should remember that Reality is nor Fair, and Big Gals and Guys usually has Big Guys and Gals as Friends.