*** You could always see hens squabbling on the farmyard. As soon as a grain was dropped, the hens made a mad dash for it before the others could. The rooster, in comparison, was always noble and generous. If he found something to eat, he immediately began to loudly summon the chickens, and yielded his find to them with generosity.
Chicken Kohena had only recently hatched from the shell and was learning the customs of the chicken yard. The field mice avoided the hens and rooster, deliberately not catching their eyes so as to avoid a sharp peck to the tops of their heads, but they thought of the young chicks as their peers and liked to race with them as to who was faster grabbing the seed and getting it to their respective homes. The chicks also considered the mice to be their brethren, but when they began to compete, things always heated up. Their greatest pleasure was a test of speed, which they enjoyed even more than the opportunity to feast on the wheat, corn or cereals. The main goal was to prove who was most agile and skillful by collecting more feed in their half of the yard.
In the middle of the courtyard was a round bowl of water, from which a watchdog named Giant quenched his thirst. On the left was the chicken coop, and on the right was the mouse burrow.
The chicks had to carry their feed to the chicken coop in their beaks, taken from each other or from the mice. But if a chick accidentally dropped its grain, an agile mouse would zip in and snatch it up and head in the opposite direction to the shelter of its burrow and jump inside.
The watchdog, Giant, was always to be seen dozing nearby, his head resting on his paws. He occasionally opened his eyes to watch how the mice and chickens frolicked and got up to mischief. He never interfered in their game, but if he got up and began pacing around the yard, the mice would scatter to every side and quickly disappear in fear of the harmless giant.
Once, the inhabitants of the courtyard noticed a drone hovering above them in the air. At first they thought it was a kite or a hawk, but when they realized the flying object posed no danger, they lost interest in it.
Then one day, a real hawk appeared in the sky and rushed down at lightning speed to grab a chick: it was Kokhena. In an instant, she spun and ran the other way, away from her coop, chasing after a mouse who had taken possession of a grain which had fallen out of her beak. The mouse dashed toward his burrow, and when it darted into its hole, Kohena followed. Safe, they watched as the hawk crashed into the ground and staggered to right itself, its claws scrabbling at the grass, before soaring back up into the sky.
Kokhena ’ s mom opened her wings and tucked her other chicks under her, leading them into the safety of the chicken coop and sheltering them in the nest.
The frightened mouse, Tatu, and chick Kohena breathed a sigh of relief, but decided to stay overnight in the burrow. Mice usually leave their shelter at night, so Tatu and Kohena were left alone. Tatu found several pieces of grain so they both had enough to eat. Then they fell asleep, the mouse snuggled up against his newly-found friend.
In the morning, the gates of the chicken coop opened and all the