Once upon a time in a land called Wisconsin there lived a noble family with many Princes and Princesses. Now this family lived in a white stone castle high on a hill. On that hill the youngest Princess, called Angelina by all in the Kingdom, would love to play. She would ride her tricycle down, down, down into the woods below. Now next to those woods was a chicken coop with bright white feather creatures with tiny red headdresses and beard like growth under their pointed beaks.
Her Highness Angelina would park her bike at the edge of the woods and visit with these rather curious creatures whenever she could. She would ask them if they would like some of her treat which on any given day would be a Chex mix one. The chickens didn’t quite know what to make of her but one thing they did understand was that she wanted to be friends. And so they would hop the fence around the coop and scamper across the road to cluck their language to her. She would sit at the edge of the woods and talk with them, telling them about her latest adventures with the King who she called Papa. The king would stand at the door of the castle and watch the little Princess and keeping the Queen informed of the little Princess and her latest conversation with the chickens at the edge of the woods.
One day Princess Angelina passed through the gates leading into the woods and who should follow but one of those chickens whom she named Cooper. Together they strolled into the path in the woods, Cooper following her at a discreet distance just in case a fox was about. When she was into the glen in the center of the woods she would pick the yellow flowers and show them to the chicken called Cooper. Now you may think that to be a strange name for a girl chicken but it was the favorite name of the Princess who named most of her toys with that name. And just maybe since it contained the word “coop” within it, the chicken might feel comfortable with such a name.
When the King could no longer see the little Princess, he would not send his guards or even the Queen to fetch her out of the woods. He would make his way into the woods and call out to her.
“Angelina, it’s time to come home.”
The reply was always the same. “Five more minutes Papa, please.”
And as usual, five more minutes was granted by Royal Decree.
On a lovely sunny morning in early September just before the leaves turned into their rainbow colors of red, orange and yellow, the Princess once again peddled down the road from the castle and to the edge of the woods. But there were no chickens to be seen. She called out but not one cluck could be heard in return. She became worried and ran from the edge of the woods up the hill and into the courtyard. There she found the King seated upon a very different kind of throne. It had strips of plastic and cloth. The King called it a picnic chair. None of that mattered to the Princess. She wanted to know where had Cooper gone off to for she was not in the coop at the edge of the woods.
The King smiled and patted the shiny reddish brown hair which flowed over her shoulders. “Well perhaps she went off with her friends to search for a treat.”
The Princess pulled out of her silk play dress pocket a hand full of nuts and berries. “But Papa, I have her treat right here.”
“Indeed you do Princess,” the King looked about the grounds of the castle and just then he saw a white fluffy creature scampering across the road and up the hill to the castle. “Oh look Angelina, I think your friend is coming for a visit.”
And indeed there was Cooper, her feet moving so fast that they were hard to see. She entered the castle grounds and scampered right up to the little Princess holding the nuts and berries in her hands.
“Cluck, cluck,” she said as her head twisted and turned to make sure that fox wasn’t around.
“I have a treat for you,” said the Princess. She held out her hand and let the nuts and berries fall onto the ground.
Cooper the chicken went right to them and gobbled them up. She turned and gave a cluck of thanks. Then as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared across the royal lawn, down the King’s road and back to her coop.
From that day on, Cooper the chicken and the Princess Angelina would meet on the Castle lawn and talk about many things such as the colors of the trees’ leaves, and the sun in the sky and sometimes the fluffy white clouds in the sky. It was those fluffy white clouds which both the Princess and the Chicken liked best because they could look like a chicken running across the blue sky.
Now one morning, Cooper the Chicken was nowhere to be seen. Angelina was becoming sad. Then she heard the cluck, cluck sounds of her fluffy feathered friend. They were coming from the stable area where the Royal Carriages, bikes of the Princess and many things were kept. She ran to the stables across the Royal Courtyard. The big white door was open. The Princess peeked in and called out to her friend. “Cooper, where are you?”
On the other side of the carriages were the tiny carriages. These were kept for the Princess when she would like to take a ride into the village to see the Church Bell. It was from where these were kept that the clucking talk came. Somehow the Chicken knew that the Princess liked to ride in this strange carriage which instead of a horse would require a person to push it by handles while the Princess rode in the seat with a tray to hold her water and treats and set over four little wheels. Most people in the village called this carriage a stroller and so did the Princess but the King who pushed it down from the castle and up the hills to the Church called it a carriage.
Perched on the seat of the stroller carriage was Cooper the Chicken. Angelina was excited and ran to her. Between the clucks and the chatter of the Princess it was clear that they were happy to see each other. With a flap of her wings which wouldn’t let her take flight like other birds, Cooper jumped to the handle. The King would use the handle to push the carriage. She tried to tell Angelina something but the little Princess didn’t understand the clucking language very well.
“Well it’s nice to see you too. I have a treat for you,” said the smiling Princess with her hand held out with the nuts and berries in it.
“Cluck, cluck,” came the reply and she pecked some seeds out of the hand of the Princess.
Their visit was cut short for the King and Queen had come out to search for the Princess who could not be seen on the Royal lawn. “Angelina, it’s time for breakfast,” they called out.
“Oh Cooper, I must go. Grammy and Papa are calling me.” The Princess Angelina rushed out of the stables and past the carriages. She waved good-bye to her chicken friend and ran off across the courtyard and into the arms of the Queen, her grandmother. “Grammy Cooper is in the stable.”
The King thought he should check to make sure that Cooper the Chicken got back to the coop safely. Angelina followed him to the stable. The chicken was not there. They looked under the tool-bench and inside the carriages but there was no Cooper the Chicken. That’s when the King noticed the stroller. He walked to it and pulled it away from the wall. And what do you think he found lying on the black cushioned seat? “Why she left you an egg Angelina,” the King shouted as he called the little Princess to his side.
Princess Angelina jumped and down excited that she was left a surprise. “Oh Papa, it’s such a nice egg.”
And it truly was a very nice egg. In size it was just perfect for the Princess. Its shell glowed white like newly fallen snow after the sun came back out.
“Can I hold it?” giggled the excited Princess.”
“Oh yes, but just very gently or it may break,” replied the King.
The Princess put her two hands together and the King carefully placed the egg into them. She looked at it with a big smile. “Papa, why did Cooper leave her egg here?”
The King thought and thought before he gave an answer. “Well Angelina this is what I think. Almost every day, you ride down the hill to the Royal Woods to visit the Chicken coop. And many times the two of you would walk into the woods to pick flowers and for Cooper, to look for treats. You always had a treat for her and now she has given you a treat in return and just in time for breakfast.”
The King untied the pouch on his belt and placed the egg which even though it was not made of gold was just as special to Princess Angelina. They walked back to the castle and from down the road at the chicken coop, there stood Cooper the Chicken clucking her message of “Thanks for the treats. I hope that you like my egg.”
And the Princess Angelina did like that egg for it was a special one given by a friend from the chicken coop at the edge of the woods.
arthurcolalegendarytales 