{"id":2291,"date":"2012-03-23T08:44:45","date_gmt":"2012-03-23T07:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/?page_id=2291"},"modified":"2013-09-26T11:51:12","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T09:51:12","slug":"the-farm-yard-cock-and-the-weather-cock","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/?page_id=2291","title":{"rendered":"The Farm-Yard Cock and the Weather-Cock"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Farm-Yard Cock and the Weather-Cock –\u00a0Illustration<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Hans Christian Andersen (1860)<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were two cocks \u2014 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 \u2014 we\u2019ll keep to ours just the same though.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne is born to that,\u201d said the cucumber to itself. \u201cNot 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\u2019t 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,\u201d said the cucumber.<\/p>\n

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\u2014the 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\u2019-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 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\u2019s 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\u2019s very tedious, and there was no one with whom one could associate, for one and all were stale and small-minded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is no good!\u201d he said. \u201cEverything in it is so stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The wind had blown the planks, but the storm was over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think of that crowing?\u201d said the yard cock to the hens and chickens. \u201cIt was a little rough\u2014it wanted elegance.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the hens and chickens came up on the dung-hill, and the cock strutted about like a lord.<\/p>\n

\u201cGarden plant!\u201d 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. \u201cA happy death!\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cCock-a-doodle-doo!\u201d he crowed, \u201cthe chickens will grow up into great hens at once, if I cry it out in the poultry-yard of the world!\u201d<\/p>\n

And hens and chicks clucked and chirped, and the cock announced a great piece of news.<\/p>\n

\u201cA cock can lay an egg! And do you know what\u2019s in that egg? A basilisk. No one can stand the sight of such a thing; people know that, and now you know it too\u2014you know what is in me, and what a champion of all cocks I am!\u201d<\/p>\n

With that the yard cock flapped his wings, made his comb swell up, and crowed again; and they all shuddered, the hens and the little chicks\u2014but 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is very stupid,\u201d the weather-cock said to himself. \u201cThe 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\u2019t want to sit here any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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? \u201cBetter to crow than to be puffed up and break off!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0Indeks over H.C. Andersens eventyr \u2014\u00a0Index of Hans Christian Andersen Fairy tales<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Farm-Yard Cock and the Weather-Cock –\u00a0Illustration\u00a0 By Hans Christian Andersen (1860) There were two cocks \u2014 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 \u2014 we\u2019ll keep to ours just the same though. The poultry yard was … L\u00e6s mere The Farm-Yard Cock and the Weather-Cock<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-2291","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53432,"href":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2291\/revisions\/53432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hcandersen-homepage.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}