The hen watched her chicks from first light.

The field was wide and the sky too large.

She drew a line with her beak.
Then stacked branches.
Then built a wall, to have some peace.

The chicks grew up together,
safe from the wind,
safe from the noise.

They never learned to run.
Or to hide.
Or to look past the shadow of the wall.

When the fox came,
they didn’t see it.

The wall was still standing.

Inside,
no one knew what to do
with the world.

Hunger did the rest.

Moral:
The wall always stays standing.

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