Long ago the cock had a pair of beautiful
horns on his head. But at that time there was a dragon who was prevented from
ascending into heaven because he lacked a pair of horns. And so he offered the millipede
as a guarantor, and borrowed the horns from the cock!
When the millipede came for the horns, he
said to the cock:”when you want your horns back, you must call out at dawn:
‘give me back my horns!’ and they will be returned you at once. You need have
no occasion to be concerned in the least.”
The kind cock knew how difficult it was to
ascend to heaven, so, reassured by the good security the millipede offered, he
loaned his horns without hesitation, just twisting them right off his head. He
also thought to himself that when the dragon returned from his visit to heaven,
they could sit down and have a good conversation; he would ask the dragon to
tell him how things were heaven, and if it really was beautiful there, as he
had always heard. If it was true, he might consider going there himself
someday, he thought.
So, next morning at daybreak (for the
dragon’s visit was scheduled to be brief), the cock called out loudly; “Give me
back my horns!” But, even though he repeated this demand ten times over, there
was no sign at all of either the dragon or the horns. Worried, the cock
promptly went off to complain to the millipede, who soothed him, saying: “If
the dragon has not returned the horns this morning, then he will certainly do
so tomorrow. At the very latest, the day after that. Just learn to be a little
patient and your horns will soon be back on your head, just as before.”
The cock did wait several days, but
although he called out every morning at sunrise: “Give me back my horns!” they
never did reappear. The cock was extremely annoyed at this deception and loss,
as you can well imagine, therefore he ordered all the members of his family to
eat millipedes on sight.
Even so, the cock has not yet given up hope
of getting his horns returned. He ordered his descendants always to call out at
the break of day: “Give me back my
horns!” He still hopes that the dragon may hear him!
Taken
from: The Asian Animal Zodiac, 1998
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