Written by Jonathan Smylie
Outside of Dalat, in the south central highlands, after we cycled our first downhill, an 11 kilometer ride down a steep mountain road with cars and buses whizzing by at close quarters, we turned off the highway onto a dirt road heavily rutted by rain and entered a small village. The residences were members of the L’Ha one of the many hill tribes that the government is moving off the mountains in an attempt to stop their slash and burn approach to farming and integrate them into modern ways.
This was Chicken Village, and in this tribe, it is a custom for the women to pick their husbands. Among the cluster of wooden buildings there stood a 20-foot high concrete statue of a chicken. The concrete bird is a replacement of the previous wooden one, which after long standing eventually deteriorated.
The story behind the chicken goes like this: A beautiful but poor farm girl fell in love with the son of a very rich family and asked him to marry. The family did not want the marriage, but custom dictated that they could not outright deny it. Instead they set up an impossible requirement. She would first have to bring them a chicken with long, perfectly formed claws, an impossible request. She accepted this request, set out to find this perfect bird and was never seen again.
The story ends there, at least the facts and I’m left with only my imagination to pluck this bird, cook it and discover what it tastes like.
Symbolically, the young girl in love has nothing. She is poor, but her heart is strong. Inside she is filled with the great treasure--the ability to love. Sadly her wealth is invisible to most others. She wants the young, rich boy. She wants the golden ring, perfection, the external picture of having-it-all. Our story teller did not say how the boy felt about the girl. It’s not really his story. He’s just a symbol of the temporal mountain top. We don’t know anything about his capacity to love. Was he a spoiled brat? A momma’s boy? Full of bravado? Or was he a strong, handsome, cowboy? Was he kind or selfish, smart or slow? All we know was that his family was rich. He symbolizes perfection, a member of the highest caste.
She has a very courageous character, revealed by two acts. One: she asks the boy to marry her. She goes against the norm, what’s the expected, reaches above her status. She wants more. She wants it all and she asks for it.
The family’s request is also symbolic. It’s a demand for perfection, for the impossible. You want the moon; you must first bring us the moon we want. She asked for perfection, the boy’s family asked for perfection back. They, the family, by throwing out their impossible requirement, are keeping themselves safely locked away from the poor, the imperfect, from other humans, from the power of the heart.
Her second great act of courage or stupidity or surrender, depending on how romantic you are, is that she actually goes in search of the perfect chicken and of course is never heard from again.
And here’s where you can choose how to garnish your now cooked chicken.
What happened to her?
(1) She walked over the hill and threw herself off the nearest cliff understanding she would never be able to do the impossible. Sounds like a Shakespearean ending. (2) She walked over the hill and searched and searched and eventually found the perfect chicken but by then she had come to realize she didn’t need a man who couldn’t go against his family and love her back. She’d outgrown the need for a whip. (3) She walked over the hill, found the chicken, realized its worth, took it to Saigon, sold it, which made her rich and she found that she had to beat away the men. (4) She walked over the hill, never found the chicken, fell in love with wandering the road and became a guide for Spice Roads. (5) She walked over the hill, traveled to America, realized she didn’t need a man and ran for president.
Outside of Dalat, in the south central highlands, after we cycled our first downhill, an 11 kilometer ride down a steep mountain road with cars and buses whizzing by at close quarters, we turned off the highway onto a dirt road heavily rutted by rain and entered a small village. The residences were members of the L’Ha one of the many hill tribes that the government is moving off the mountains in an attempt to stop their slash and burn approach to farming and integrate them into modern ways.
This was Chicken Village, and in this tribe, it is a custom for the women to pick their husbands. Among the cluster of wooden buildings there stood a 20-foot high concrete statue of a chicken. The concrete bird is a replacement of the previous wooden one, which after long standing eventually deteriorated.
The story behind the chicken goes like this: A beautiful but poor farm girl fell in love with the son of a very rich family and asked him to marry. The family did not want the marriage, but custom dictated that they could not outright deny it. Instead they set up an impossible requirement. She would first have to bring them a chicken with long, perfectly formed claws, an impossible request. She accepted this request, set out to find this perfect bird and was never seen again.
The story ends there, at least the facts and I’m left with only my imagination to pluck this bird, cook it and discover what it tastes like.
Symbolically, the young girl in love has nothing. She is poor, but her heart is strong. Inside she is filled with the great treasure--the ability to love. Sadly her wealth is invisible to most others. She wants the young, rich boy. She wants the golden ring, perfection, the external picture of having-it-all. Our story teller did not say how the boy felt about the girl. It’s not really his story. He’s just a symbol of the temporal mountain top. We don’t know anything about his capacity to love. Was he a spoiled brat? A momma’s boy? Full of bravado? Or was he a strong, handsome, cowboy? Was he kind or selfish, smart or slow? All we know was that his family was rich. He symbolizes perfection, a member of the highest caste.
She has a very courageous character, revealed by two acts. One: she asks the boy to marry her. She goes against the norm, what’s the expected, reaches above her status. She wants more. She wants it all and she asks for it.
The family’s request is also symbolic. It’s a demand for perfection, for the impossible. You want the moon; you must first bring us the moon we want. She asked for perfection, the boy’s family asked for perfection back. They, the family, by throwing out their impossible requirement, are keeping themselves safely locked away from the poor, the imperfect, from other humans, from the power of the heart.
Her second great act of courage or stupidity or surrender, depending on how romantic you are, is that she actually goes in search of the perfect chicken and of course is never heard from again.
And here’s where you can choose how to garnish your now cooked chicken.
What happened to her?
(1) She walked over the hill and threw herself off the nearest cliff understanding she would never be able to do the impossible. Sounds like a Shakespearean ending. (2) She walked over the hill and searched and searched and eventually found the perfect chicken but by then she had come to realize she didn’t need a man who couldn’t go against his family and love her back. She’d outgrown the need for a whip. (3) She walked over the hill, found the chicken, realized its worth, took it to Saigon, sold it, which made her rich and she found that she had to beat away the men. (4) She walked over the hill, never found the chicken, fell in love with wandering the road and became a guide for Spice Roads. (5) She walked over the hill, traveled to America, realized she didn’t need a man and ran for president.
1 comment:
I think there may a few versions of this stort as there usually are with those passed down by word of mouth.
The story that I was presented with explained that the village is split into two tribes who both speak a different language.Individuals from either side were not openly allowed to marry and such a union had never ocurred.
After the girl goes into the Jungle to complete this impossible challenge and does not return, the boy decides he can not leave her to die in the Jungle and so he also heads to Jungle to try and bring the girl back.
The ending I was given, was that neither of the young lovers returned, which brought great sorrow to both the villagers.
From this tradgedy the elders of the village decided that they would never again forbid or deny individuals from the two villagers from marrying so as to avoid another tradgedy. So now the village is more community like but they still have their seperate language.
From tradgedy comes revolution.
Post a Comment