The North Wind, the South Wind, and the Rooster

my most recent story

Once upon a time, a long time ago, the north wind had a quarrel with the south wind. Days passed. For a while, it seemed that the south wind was winning, but the north wind refused to accept defeat. So they decided to go ask a rooster to be the judge between them.

Huffing and puffing, the two competitors came to the chook run. “I’ll talk to him first!” the south wind announced, trying to grasp the latch.

“No you won’t!” the north wind shouted, grabbing at the door handle and trying to wrestle the south wind’s hand off it.

“Ouch! Your hand’s hot!” The south wind screamed.

“Brr! Yours is freezing!” The north wind complained. The two continued fighting, neither managing to open the door, but both getting terribly annoyed.

Suddenly, “Er-er-er-er-er! What’s going on here?” The noise came from right above them. Both winds stopped for a second, and stared, open-mouthed, at the cock who was dressed in the latest fashion.

“We, ah, we’re going to see the judge.” The south wind said, fumbling with his words and trying to protect his eyes from the brilliant sun behind the rooster.

“I see,” the cock said, flying gracefully to the ground. He adjusted his glasses, picked up his gold-headed cane, and motioned toward a door to his right. “Follow me,” he said crisply, and stepped majestically through the door.

Looking at each other strangely, the two winds followed, and soon found themselves in a dark, musty room.

“Sit down.” A stern voice said, and the two winds found seats on the dirty straw. Looking around, they saw no-one, but the room was so dark it would have been hard to tell if there was anyone there at all anyway.

“Now, what’s the problem?” The voice asked.

“The south wind…” The north began.

“I don’t understand why the north wind…!” the south wind said angrily.

They both continued talking and shouting until the judge cut in loudly, “Stop it, both of you! One at a time, please. North wind, you speak first.”

The north wind spoke quickly, stating his case. The south wind tried to butt in several times, but he was always told to be quiet by the judge. When his turn finally came, he angrily told his side of the story.

The judge was quiet for a moment. A ray of sunshine shone dimly through a filthy window, and the winds saw the judge for the first time. The light showed the shining grandeur of his red and gold feathers. Finally, the judge rose pompously to his feet. “The south wind is right. North wind, you must give in to him!”

The north wind rose in protest. He spouted angry words at the rooster, but nothing he said would change the verdict. Puffing violently, he blew all the cock’s feathers askew and marched out of the room. The south wind followed slowly.

Ever after that, the south wind has always won all his arguments with the north wind, and Dianne’s (one of our friends) rooster has always had ruffled feathers that stick straight up. No matter how much he’s tried to smooth them, they always stay rumpled. And that is the story of The North Wind, the South Wind, and the Rooster.

~Esther

P.S. We’ve just published issue #7 of JOJ! Go here to read it.