‘The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly‘ by Sun-Mi Hwang was highly recommended to me by Claire from Word by Word and another friend. I borrowed it from this other friend and read it in one breath today.
Sprout is a hen who lives in a farm. She is reared for the eggs she lays. Her dream is to get out of the enclosure she is in, go and walk around the yard outside, lay eggs and watch chicks hatch out of them, and bring up her little ones. But the humans who keep her, take away her eggs, as soon as she lays them. One day she stops laying eggs. The humans feel that her time is up and throw her and other hens, who have stopped laying eggs, into a pit. There a weasel is eyeing her as a potential next meal. But a mallard duck called Straggler helps her out and takes her to his barn and provides her temporary accommodation. But the other birds and animals in the barn compel her to leave the next day. Sprout leaves the security of the barn, goes outside finds her own food and lives a freespirited life – a life which is unusual for hens. One day she discovers an egg. It appears to be freshly laid. Deep feelings gush our of her and she decides to sit on the egg to make it hatch. At some point her friend Straggler finds her there and he helps her with food. When the incubation period is over, the egg hatches. A small bird comes out of it. Sprout thinks that it is a strange-looking chicken. She loves her baby very much. What happens after that is amazing.
I can continue telling the story till the end, but I will stop here. I will let you read it for yourself and experience the pleasure and the joy it has to offer.
I loved ‘The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly‘. It is a beautiful book about a mother and her baby, about the joys and challenges of parenting, about how the only way to parent our kids is to unconditionally love them, nurture them, help them see their true selves and realize their potential, not hold them back but help them to fly high, and if they come back enjoy their homecoming, and if they don’t, be satisfied that one has done a good job. Parenting is the most difficult job in the world, and the most selfless, but also the most beautiful and the most rewarding. Sprout shows how she is an awesome mom and though her baby is very different from her, she helps him see his true self and realize his potential. There is atleast one surprise in store for the reader towards the end, and when I reached the last page, I cried, because all beautiful things have to come to an end. But as Ellie Harp says in ‘One Tree Hill‘ – “Every song has a coda, a final movement. Whether it fades out or crashes away, every song ends. Is that any reason not to enjoy the music?” I enjoyed this particular music composed so beautifully by Sun-Mi Hwang, singing the glories of the beautiful life of the awesome mom Sprout and her beloved baby.
‘The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly‘ is a beautiful book which will uplift your spirits when you are down, and if you are feeling uplifted already, it will make your spirits soar high. Go read it ☺️
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