The Tale of the Rooster

Many years ago, we had an old rooster; he led his hens into the woods and fields. One day, as they were scratching the ground under the leaves, the rooster found a large linen purse, tightly stuffed with gold and silver coins. The rooster grabbed the purse and carried it home; he crowed at the top of his lungs, beside himself with joy.

In that village lived a certain gentleman, called d'Arglan; he said:

"Rooster, show me the purse!" Once he got the purse, he didn’t even think of returning it, but took it to his home. Then the rooster crowed:

"Mr. d'Arglan, give me back my treasure! Return my gold and silver!"

Mr. d'Arglan gave nothing back. The rooster crowed even louder. Mr. d'Arglan got angry and said, "Wait, I’ll deal with you! I’ll lock you up in the stable with my mules tonight, and they’ll teach you a lesson."

The rooster got scared and ran away. On the road, he met a wolf.

"Hello, friend," he said.

"Hello, friend," replied the wolf. "Where are you going?"

"I know where I’m going. If you want to come with me, I’ll treat you to a delicious meal."

"I’m always happy to feast," said the wolf.

"If you agree to come with me," said the rooster, "climb into my sack."

The rooster went on. Soon he met a fox.

"Hello, friend," said the rooster.

"Hello, friend," replied the fox. "Where are you going?"

"I know where I’m going. If you want to come with me, I’ll treat you to a delicious meal." The fox immediately perked up.

"I’m always happy to feast," he said.

"If that’s the case, climb into my sack," said the rooster. He went further and met some bees and hornets.

"If you want to sting to your heart’s content, climb into my sack."

The bees and hornets didn’t need to be asked twice; the rooster stuffed them into his sack.

The rooster kept walking until he came across a stream.

"Where are you going, rooster?" asked the stream.

"I know where I’m going," said the rooster. "Mr. d'Arglan took my treasure, all my gold and silver. Come with me; you’ll help me."

The stream agreed. The rooster put it into his sack.

The rooster returned, knocked on Mr. d'Arglan’s door, and began to crow loudly:

"Mr. d'Arglan, give me back my treasure! Return my gold and silver!"

"Wait, I’ll teach you a lesson!" said Mr. d'Arglan.

In the evening, he ordered his servants to catch the rooster and lock him in the stable with the mules for the night. "By morning, they’ll deal with him," he thought. And so, the rooster was locked up with the mules. The mules were angry, stomping their hooves. The poor rooster was quite frightened but kept his wits about him. Finally, they attacked him.

Then the rooster said to the wolf:

"Come out of the sack, tear them all apart, eat as much as you want."

The wolf jumped out of the sack, tore apart all the mules, drank their blood, and devoured them. In an instant, the mules were no more.

The next morning, Mr. d'Arglan jumped out of bed and ran to the stable to see if the rooster was dead. As soon as he opened the door, the rooster, as proud as ever, flew out into the yard and crowed at the top of his lungs:

"Mr. d'Arglan, give me back my treasure! Return my gold and silver!"

"Well, I’ll be!" thought Mr. d'Arglan. "The mules couldn’t finish him off."

He entered the stable and saw that all his mules lay dead.

"I’ve really been had!" he cried. "This wretched rooster is driving me mad! I’ll have him locked up in the goose pen; the geese will surely teach him a lesson."

That evening, he ordered the rooster to be sent to the goose pen. The geese hissed at him immediately.

"Hey, fox, come out of the sack!" said the rooster. "Choke them all! Eat as much as you want!"

The fox didn’t need to be asked twice; he spent the whole night choking the geese and feasting on goose meat.

Mr. d'Arglan could hardly wait for dawn, so eager was he to find out if the rooster was still alive. He unlocked the goose pen, and the rooster flew out into the yard and crowed:

"Mr. d'Arglan, give me back my treasure! Return my gold and silver!"

"Damn this rooster!" cried Mr. d'Arglan in fear. "Did the same thing happen to my geese as to the mules?"

He entered the goose pen and saw that all the geese were dead, their feathers and blood scattered everywhere.

"This rooster is the devil himself!" thought Mr. d'Arglan. "But I’ll deal with him yet, I’m sure of it."

"Today," he said to the rooster, "I’ll send you to spend the night with my daughters. They’ll strangle you—they’ll surely handle you."

And the rooster replied:

"Mr. d'Arglan, give me back my treasure! Return my gold and silver!"

When night fell, Mr. d'Arglan said to his three daughters:

"Girls, here’s the rooster; he’ll sleep with you. Do your best to strangle him."

Sensing that the girls wanted to kill him, the rooster said:

"Bees, hornets—sting them, and make it hurt!"

In the morning, as soon as it was light, Mr. d'Arglan came to see if the rooster had met his end. But the rooster flew over his head and crowed:

"Mr. d'Arglan, give me back my treasure! Return my gold and silver!"

Mr. d'Arglan looked at his daughters—they were barely alive, swollen beyond recognition.

"What should I do?" pondered Mr. d'Arglan. "I must finish off this rooster once and for all! I’ll have the oven heated and throw him in—that’s sure to do the trick. There’s no other way."

The oven was heated, and when it was red-hot, they chased the rooster, caught him, grabbed him by the wings, and threw him into the fire. Then the rooster said to the stream:

"Come out of the sack!"

And the stream instantly flooded the oven; it turned black, like a sooty chimney. When Mr. d'Arglan came to check and opened the oven, the rooster flew out, crowing:

"Mr. d'Arglan, give me back my treasure! Return my gold and silver!"

Then Mr. d'Arglan took the purse, threw it onto the tiled roof, and shouted:

"Here’s your purse! You’ve caused me too much trouble!"

Our rooster took the purse and went home to his hens, overjoyed. And the hens, seeing him, all clucked at once!

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The Tale of the Rooster

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