Mysterious chicken makes appearance
In the classic children’s tale “The Little Red Hen,” an industrious mother hen finds a grain of wheat which none of the other farm animals are interested in helping her plant and grow. Nor do they want to harvest, thresh, mill, or bake the flour into bread. So when she makes a lovely loaf at the story’s end, the hen shares the bounty with her chicks instead of those who wouldn’t help.
In a local tale, it was Sylvia Johnston of Shorewood Drive who provided the grain for a little red hen. The chicken was first spotted at Kmart Saturday making a spectacle while onlookers wondered how the random poultry got there.
While visiting at Johnston’s home, a friend mentioned the chicken she had just seen at Kmart when peculiarly — the clucker appeared in Johnston’s driveway!
“I kinda shooed it behind the house into the bushes hoping it would not get run over,” Johnston told The Journal. She gave it water and food.
Johnston watered flowers Sunday evening and the chicken was still roaming in her yard. “It is so happy! Just clucking away at me!” she said. ”I see it has been scratching and grubbing around my deck so it thinks it is home.”
“Someone in Borderland must be looking for their ‘Little Red Hen,’” Johnston said. She can be reached at 283-3990 by anyone with information on the fowl runaway.
