“Do you miss eggs?” asked Torty one morning when the Animal Kingdom were all having breakfast and Lolo had been served her usual fare of milk and berries. “Hmmm, let’ see – to be honest, I wouldn’t mind having one every now and then..” replied Lolo as she drank her milk.
Squee came zooming down the banisters, and nibbled on some nuts he had brought back the day before. Then he jumped onto Lolo’s shoulder and bit her ear lovingly. Pingoo, Torty, and Hoofoo looked at each other. A post breakfast meeting seemed to be required. And it was Hoofoo who again came up with a solution. “I know a farm nearby – they used to have hens. We might be able to get eggs there” he said. “But would the humans allow it?” asked Pingoo worriedly. “No other way but to go and find out!” replied Willoo who had just woken up to hear about Lolo needing eggs for her food.
It was decided that Pingoo, Hoofoo, and Willoo would go looking for this farm that very day. Lolo went out into the garden to play with Squee and the three of them set out in search for a hen or two who might give them some eggs for her. Hoofoo led the little group past the field where they had found him and across the main road. The other side of the road was not as densely forested but had some tiny dwelling areas here and there. After walking for about three hours they crossed a tiny stream, and near it, was a lovely little thatched farmhouse.
As they approached, Pingoo looked about cautiously for any stray human wandering about who might catch them or harm them in some way. Nobody seemed to be around though. Hoofoo went up to the farmhouse and gently nudged the door. Everything was spick and span and there were vegetables growing and he could hear the soft sounds of chicks from the hen house behind. Pingoo waddled his way around to see if there was a hen there as well. And he was right!
Inside the little red hen house, was a fat hen sitting on a batch of eggs. She looked at the three animals as they came up and said not a word. “Err hello!” said Hoofoo polite as ever. The hen said nothing. “Do you have any spare eggs we might take for a little girl who lives with us?” continued Hoofoo going straight to the point. Still the hen said nothing or gave any indication that she had heard what Hoofoo had said. Pingoo, Willoo, and Hoofoo wondered what they could do to get her to talk to them. As they stood there, they heard a loud “Cock-er-coo” and a proud cock came walking into the hen house. He stopped abruptly when he saw the three and looked askance at the hen.
“Helloo there!” said Pingoo this time. “I am sorry to have come here like this, but we have a little girl living with us, and she has nothing to eat but berries and milk every morning. We thought we might get some eggs here for her.”
The cock gravely looked at each of them and then nodded. Not a sound came out of him after his loud call. “May we take some today?” said Hoofoo. The cock nodded again, and he took four eggs from a box nearby and offered them to Hoofoo. Willoo quickly took them and the three thanked the couple profusely, and also asked if they could come by from time to time for eggs. The cock nodded again. He had kind eyes and it seemed that it was him that ran the little farm. On the way back, the cock pointed out his vegetable garden and suddenly seemed to find his voice. “The humans left us behind here and we could have died. But my wife and I worked hard to live here and now we have some chicks coming as well.”
“Great job!” said Willoo admiringly, looking at the neat rows of vegetables, fruits, and crops, the little cock had grown. They bid goodbye to him and carefully started on their way back with their precious eggs for Lolo.
It was a long journey and late by the time they reached home. Pingoo proudly showed Lolo the eggs, who came running as soon as she saw them to ask “Where were you three all this while?”
“Oh my! You are just wonderful” said Lolo smilingly as she took the four eggs and put them in a basket. “I will boil one tomorrow. Yayy” she clapped her hands in joy.
The animals all smiled and felt happy when suddenly there was a cracking noise. One of the eggs seemed to be hatching! As the animal kingdom looked on, it cracked open, and out emerged a little yellow chick. “Cheep” it said and looked around.
“Good Heavens!” said Torty. “Who do we have here?”
The chick shook off the bits of eggshell and daintily picked its way out of the basket. Lolo and the others were pleasantly surprised. This was the cutest little chicken they had ever seen and they immediately wanted to keep it with them. Lolo gently picked it up and cuddled it. The chick seemed to like her and Pingoo quickly went to see if Squee had any grains or seeds in his nut collection.
“Can you talk?” asked Lolo to the little chick. “Yes of course!” it replied in a high and sweet voice. “Oh lovely!” replied Lolo.
“What are you all doing here? Do you want to eat me?” said the chick looking a little frightened. “Oh no no no! I do eat eggs, but no one here is going to eat you!” said Lolo. “You can stay with us and you will be safe.”
“But what do we call you?” asked Torty. “I prefer the name ‘Chikoo’” said the little chick gravely and so Chikoo it was from that day onwards. The next question Chikoo asked was an even more serious one.
“Don’t you all go to school?” he asked Lolo. Lolo sighed and said, “I got lost from my house and these kind animals took me in. I have not been to school since.”
“Well I must go to school!” stated Chikoo "And so should you all.We have to learn if we have to live” he said nodding gravely and wisely.
The animals looked amazed. It was mere hours since the chick had hatched and already it seemed all grown up and serious. He would be an interesting addition to this odd household.
“Hmm – you are right! School is important” said Hoofoo. “But you are a baby chick, and we shall see about sending you to animal school in a year or two. There is one near my old house. Willoo, Squee, Torty, and Pingoo should also go.”
“But what about me?” asked Lolo. “Tomorrow I shall go see about getting some schoolbooks for you. You can study here every day so that you don’t forget what you learned.” replied Hoofoo and everyone agreed that this was the best way out.
And that was a turning point in the animal kingdom. The little ones would all begin to go to school or get home schooled. Chikoo was a stickler for routine, young though he was, and when Lolo began to sit down to do sums and practice her writing every day, he would also sit beside her and look at pictures from a picture book. “I am getting ready for school” he would say gravely if anyone asked him what he was doing. Squee made a lot of jokes about this, but it never discouraged Chikoo. He was the littlest and most sincere scholar they had ever seen!
Note: The image has been sourced from Google Images.