For the love of Chicken!

Once upon a time, there were 4 close friends - Hand, Mind, Tongue and Chicken. As you might have guessed, Hand, Mind and Tongue were close buddies since birth. Chicken was an outsider that started gelling well with his three friends. They used to be inseparable. Always together, played together, fought together, helped each other in time of need. Infact, some claim that the word "friendship" was conceptualized by the four of them.

Now this is how they used to spend / work each day - The Hand used to gather food and pass it on to the Tongue. The Tongue used to take the Teeth's help to break down and swallow the food. Mind you, Tongue and Teeth used each other but were never close. Quite often, the Teeth, in a fit of rage, used to hurt the Tongue. It happened once, twice, and became a regular feature. The Teeth used to apologize, but made no difference. Even the Hand and Mind were helpless. Coming back to the daily routine, after the food is swallowed, the small particles used to travel through small tunnels and used to reach the Mind. Mind used to feel energized and sends positive feedback to the Hand and Tongue. Hand responds by gathering food again.. And the cycle continues..

But the chicken always used to feel left out. He observed how the other three used to work together. The other three, on their part, knew this situation very well. Once the routine was done with, the other three used to talk to Chicken, make him happy by telling all the jokes, and play the "Pakda-pakdi" game. The other three knew they will never be able to catch Chicken thereby making Chicken the winner. Chicken loved this part of the routine and always used to wait for the other three's work to end. Chicken used to feel like being an inseparable part of this group!!

Then a fiery incident happened.. 

.. when, one day, they were playing the "pakda-pakdi" game. As is always the case, the Chicken was running as fast as it could trying to win again. At the other end of the farm, a farmer was trying to prepare a bonfire to keep himself warm. The Chicken kept on running and reached the other end. His friend, the Mind, signaled the Tongue to alert the Chicken of the eminent danger. Even his friend, the Hand, started signalling towards the bonfire. The Chicken thought it was their trick to win the game. He ran ahead and jumped. He was in the air when he saw the bonfire, but it was too late. Even his wings didn't support him when he needed it the most. He saw his friends. They had resigned to their fate. He gave up too! Five seconds later, the Chicken was burning. He then saw his friend, the Hand, trying to catch hold of him. In order to avoid the Hand getting burned, the Chicken started running away from them in search of water. He saw a bucket nearby that was filled with water and jumped on it, perhaps for the last time! The fire was gone, but the damage was already done! His friends ran towards the bucket and saw their dying friend. They had an emotional moment together and the inevitable happened - Chicken passed away. Chicken had an option to save himself by allowing the Hand to approach him, he still preferred to sacrifice himself and protect his friends!

Hand, Tongue and Mind were completely devastated! It was as if they lost a big part of their life! All the three went into depression. But they had a bigger responsibility. Before sacrificing himself, Chicken had one last wish - he wanted the other three to remember him every single day of their lives and should carry out one activity which directly relates to him. Something that will be a symbol of their friendship and will ensure they remain together always. What could they possibly do?

The Mind was the smarter of the three, for obvious reasons. Fighting depressing, the Mind came up with a brilliant idea. The idea was such that all three of the remaining friends will have equal share in remembering Chicken throughout their life. No one will have a bigger share. Only one activity will ensure Chicken as part of their daily routine. Since the Chicken died for his friends in a bucket, that last image will be the lasting image for generations to come. And this is what the three friends came up with:

The Hand will softly hold the Chicken, the Tongue will carefully feel the Chicken (for a change, the Teeth will not harm the Tongue) and eventually the Mind will have the opportunity to embrace those friendly days when the Chicken was alive!! And the Chicken will live forever in their lives!!  

Now, if you are still guessing, that's precisely the reason why all the generations still follow the custom of having Chicken in a bucket!! By following the custom of involving Hand, Tongue and Mind in reliving their good times with the Chicken, we are doing a noble service to their friendship!

Long live their friendship!!

PS: This is a fictional post as you might have already guessed and is written purely for the love of Chicken.