Philippine folk tale: Why do chickens keep scratching the ground

Okay, children, listen... It is time for bedtime story. The story for tonight is about the tale of why chickens keep on scratching the ground and why the hawk is a predator of chickens.

Here it is...

Long time ago, the hawk and the hen used to be good friends. One day when they were playing, the hen noticed the hawk's ring and she ask if she can borrow it. Since they are good friends, the hawk lend it to the hen.

"Take care of it," said the hawk.

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The ring is loose around the hen's finger because the hawk has bigger fingers. Even so, the hen proudly wore the ring because other hens were admiring her being the only one with such.

The rooster came and played around with the hen. While they were playing, the hen did not notice that the ring fall off her finger. It was already late when she noticed it.

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Not long after that, the hawk came to visit the hen again. He noticed that the hen is not wearing his ring.

"Where is the ring that I gave you?" he asked the hen.

The hen tried to make stories up but were not working until she finally admitted what happened. That angered the hawk so bad.

"How can you be so careless to just lose my ring?" the hawk shouted. "I want my ring back. You better start scratching around now to find my ring! From now on, you will be scratching the ground until you find my ring."

"Another thing, I now consider you and all other chickens to be my enemies. I will eat every chicken I can catch until you return my ring!" warned the hawk and flew away.

Source

The hen told all other chickens she knew about what happened. From then on, all chickens are scratching the ground to find the ring. That was also the start of when chickens became prey of the hawk.

The above version was the one that was presented during the story-telling session to children sponsored by PAC as I mentioned in my previous article.

When the children were asked about the moral of the story, following were their answers:

• Take care of what you borrowed
• Do not lose what you borrowed
• Return what you borrowed

Additional from me, do not try to keep up with the Joneses if you can't afford it.

Be good children, and remember the moral of the story. Have a good night sleep... 😊

There are few twists on how the tale is being told. One version of the tale is that the hawk courted the hen and offered the ring for the hen to wear as a sign of the latter's commitment. However, the rooster who is supposed to marry the hen got mad and demanded that the hen throw the ring away so she did. Here is that version.

I think the version presented to the children with PAC was revised that way to avoid presenting the untruthfulness of the hen.

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This article is in response to @freedomshift's comment to my post. I figured the answer calls for a separate article.

tale of why do chickens keep on scratching the ground and why is the hawk (corrected) predator to chicks

don't know the story and did not find it.

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