Fox In the Hen House
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Personification see if you know who is represented, and whose side you are on in the drama.
Fox in the hen house.
There is a farmer, a good man, his name is Jahn.
He raises livestock chickens, pigs, cows of all sorts and
of course sheep and goats in many varieties,
as he is not partial.
He loves all of his animals dearly and feeds and cares for them.
When they are sick he cures them,
when they produce their young he is right there,
providing needed comfort security and help.
From time to time he sees wild animals that threaten
his peaceful farm, and he scares them away.
He puts up protective fences to keep predators out
but sometimes the goats don't like his restrictions
and try to escape.When they are successful and do escape
they are no longer under the protective care of Jahn,
their loving master.
When they suffer outside the farms protection
or when they are eaten alive by vicious wild animals,
he grieves for them. He asks himself:Why do they not stay here under my watchful eye? Don't they understand that my restrictions are for their benefit?
One day he hears a commotion in the hen house, screams, and shrieks startle him and he runs to see what is happening. He just checked on them in the early morning and all was well, now what's wrong? He slides open the window of the hen house to observe, and what does he see....a fox had killed one of his hens.
He recognizes that fox, he is the leader of a pack, that he sees from time to time in the distance, but he's never been so bold as to try to enter the farm.
Now he is inside the hen house, with 30 laying hens, what should he do?
He ponders momentarily, and visualizes the scene if he does nothing, one by one, the hens are eaten, and because the fox was left alone, after a short time he alone was left...
Would that be the end of the matter after all the hens were dead and gone?
Would the fox not invite his friends to come over because the eating is good?
Look at all those sheep, don't they look tasty?
So farmer Jahn, takes his crossbow, not his rifle, as he does not want to frighten his hens, and shoots the fox dead, and drags his corpse and throws it outside the farms fences as a warning to the others.
There was justice in the hen house, and peace and harmony continued to reign long after that.
Surprisingly, some neighbors heard what happened, and came to Jahn complaining, saying that if he was really loving he would not have killed the fox he should have just left him alone and let nature take it's course.
He tried to explain to them that his justice was motivated by love for his hens and all of his animals. And that killing the fox was not only the just but also the loving thing to do.
The neighbors were not impressed and did not understand his viewpoint, they decided to get together to see what they could do about this unloving farmer who kills foxes.
to be continued...
Copyright © John Hamilton | Year Posted 2016
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