I had occasion yesterday to recall one of the insightful maxims of that great philosopher of our times, Judy Judge, who is often inclined to stress that ‘no deed is too good to go unpunished’. The reason for this reflection was my noticing that one of my ‘free range’ hens was showing distinct signs of being bullied by her immediate neighbours. Those of you familiar with this blog will recall that I have two hen enclosures, one containing the original two Rhode Island reds and another larger one that was constructed later containing two more Rhode Island reds but also a French Maran Hen and Light Sussex breed. However, in the last few days I noticed that the French Maran hen had missing feathers around her neck and on part of her breast plate. I watched carefully and decided that it might be better to put all the Rhode island reds into the larger enclosure and put the Maran and Sussex hens into the smaller pen for the welfare of all. I surmised that peace might then reign supreme. However, on inspecting the hens at dusk I found that two Rhode Island reds were attempting a sort of ‘Coop’ d’etat on their new arrivals and that the latter were cowering in the corner afraid to go inside to the dry roistering area for the night. I thought that overnight that the French Maran would surely forge a ‘detente cordial’ in her new enclosure at least. Alas she also seems somewhat bewildered and now the French hen seems red, with white (light Sussex hen) and feeling blue. Thus, on inspecting the ‘flock’ this morning I found that all seems distressed and disoriented and hence I decided that it would be best to restore the pecking order as it were and put the hens back where they originally resided. Of course this took me a good hour to catch them and restore them to the original enclosures. Thus my concept of a good deed was misplaced and all hens are happily now producing eggs as before.
However, as I was consuming my daily egg for breakfast this morning after my hard boiled adventure I could not but recall the sucking stones discourse in ‘Molloy’ from Samuel Beckett’s wonderful book. He also has a somewhat similar if more complex dilemma in trying suck sixteen stones in order without sucking any one twice before the other. I recommend that you google this passage and it is wonderfully humourous. I felt an echo in my own vain attempts to distribute the hens safely in groups of two without causing them distress but of course like Molloy I had to abandon the principle. Hence a small quote from the book may seem apt here:
“ There was something more than a principle I abandoned when I abandoned the equal distribution, it was bodily need”.
Of course in the end Molloy gives up and states that he doesn’t give a ‘tinkers curse’ which way the stones are sucked. But it is the overriding desire to organise, plan and distribute the stones in groups between his pockets while sucking them in turn which wonderfully captures the human need to give order and purpose to the world despite the irrational point of this exercise from a limited philosophical perspective. So I’m glad that Molloy did not have to solve the problem of redistributing my hens but I’m sure that he would understand the ‘bodily need’ to do it.
However, as I was consuming my daily egg for breakfast this morning after my hard boiled adventure I could not but recall the sucking stones discourse in ‘Molloy’ from Samuel Beckett’s wonderful book. He also has a somewhat similar if more complex dilemma in trying suck sixteen stones in order without sucking any one twice before the other. I recommend that you google this passage and it is wonderfully humourous. I felt an echo in my own vain attempts to distribute the hens safely in groups of two without causing them distress but of course like Molloy I had to abandon the principle. Hence a small quote from the book may seem apt here:
“ There was something more than a principle I abandoned when I abandoned the equal distribution, it was bodily need”.
Of course in the end Molloy gives up and states that he doesn’t give a ‘tinkers curse’ which way the stones are sucked. But it is the overriding desire to organise, plan and distribute the stones in groups between his pockets while sucking them in turn which wonderfully captures the human need to give order and purpose to the world despite the irrational point of this exercise from a limited philosophical perspective. So I’m glad that Molloy did not have to solve the problem of redistributing my hens but I’m sure that he would understand the ‘bodily need’ to do it.
Note: Poultry (some in chocolate) photos from home and Damme, Belgium.
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