Once there was a rooster who lived in a little yard, with a little hen. The rooster spent most of the day just picking through the coloured feathers and the hen ran around the yard looking for something to eat for both of them. One day they decided to make life more interesting for themselves and go to the strawberry patch.
They agreed to share every strawberry they could find. Soon the hen discovered one red berry and shared it nicely with the rooster. After a while, the rooster found the strawberry too, but he didn’t want to share and quickly ate it himself so the hen wouldn’t notice. But the strawberry was too big and got stuck in the rooster’s throat and he couldn’t breathe. “Hen, please bring me some water from the well, or I’ll choke,” he begged his companion, wheezing.
The hen immediately ran to the well, “Please give me water for the rooster. He is lying there in the yard, his feet are up, and I am afraid he will die.”
“I will give you water, but only if you bring me a big shawl from the seamstress. The sun has been shining on me for days, I need shade or I will dry up,” replied the well to the hen’s plea.
So the hen quickly ran to the seamstress to get the scarf, give it to the well, and quickly come back to get water to the rooster.
When she ran to the seamstress, she begged. “Seamstress, please give me the scarf for the well. She will give me water for my rooster in exchange. He is lying there in the yard, his feet are up, and I am afraid he will die.”
The seamstress was willing to give the hen the scarf, but only if the shoemaker brought her new shoes.
So the hen ran to the shoemaker this time. When she got there, she immediately begged, “Shoemaker, please give me new shoes for the seamstress. She will give me a scarf in exchange for them, and I will give it to the well and she will give me water for my rooster. He is lying in the yard, his feet are up, and I am afraid he will die.”
“I’ll give you new shoes for the seamstress, but I need the pig’s bristles. If you bring them to me, you’ll get the shoes.”
So the hen ran to the pig to beg the bristles from him. The pig agreed under the condition that she bring him cream from the cow.
And so the hen ran to the cow. The cow promised her the cream in exchange for some grass from the meadow.
The hen went to the meadow and asked for some grass for the cow. “I’ll give you some grass, but first you must beg some dew from heaven to water me,” promised the meadow.
The desperate hen turned her eyes towards heaven and cried out in a pleading voice: “Heaven, heaven, please give me some dew for the meadow. The meadow will give me grass for the cow, the cow will give me cream for the pig, the pig will give me bristles for the shoemaker, the shoemaker will give me shoes for the seamstress, the seamstress will give me a scarf for the well, and from the well I will get water for my rooster. He is lying there in the yard, his feet are up, and I am afraid that he will die.”
When Heaven saw the poor hen, it took pity on her and sent some moisture to the meadow. At last the hen got help without any return!
The meadow now gladly gave the hen some grass. With the grass, the hen ran to the cow. She got cream from the cow, which she ran to give to the pig. From the pig she ran to the shoemaker to give him the bristles. He gave her a pair of shoes, which she ran to give to the seamstress. The hen took the scarf from her and hurried to the well. The well gave her water, and the hen hurried with the water to the rooster and gave him a drink. The stuck strawberry finally slipped down to his tummy. The rooster jumped to his feet and crowed at the top of his lungs: “Cockadoodledoo!” And from then on, he always preferred to share everything with his good and devoted hen.
