A Valentine's Day Love Story

A few years ago I left the noise of Iraklion and moved to the country, an ideal location for unwinding after a hard day at work.

Every evening I went to bed with the calming sounds of the cicadas, and in the morning woke up to the tune of bird songs.  

Very soon, however, I discovered that our neighbour had a hen coop with many chickens, and, of course, a right lovely rooster, with a voice that was now the first thing I heard in the morning.

I became a bit jealous with the neighbour's hen coop, thinking of all those fresh eggs, and decided to make one of my own. As soon as it was completed, I purchased six handsome chickens. As my interest was in having fresh eggs, I didn’t want a rooster, and I was incredibly happy when I collected my first batch of eggs.

Every morning when I opened the door to the coop they rushed out; every evening they came back. I never spotted them during the day, but I just thought they were roaming around my large garden area.

One morning, I was in hurry and didn’t open the door of the coop, and headed straight for my car. Suddenly, I heard that familiar voice…the voice of the neighbour rooster. But now it was coming from my own garden!

There, In front my coop, waiting patiently by the door, stood the most beautiful rooster I had ever seen. And, in that moment I understood why I couldn’t find my chickens in the garden. They left my property through a hole in the hedge and spent the whole day with my neighbour's rooster!  And I knew a great love story had been born.

Since the rooster was used to seeing his loves every day, when they didn't show

he came to search for them. When I finally opened the door of the coop, my chickens rushed out and, together with the rooster, hastily went away.

It was a few days later that I made another discovery. In my hen coop, I found my six lovely chickens, their delicious eggs…and the beautiful cock. He had returned the evening before with the rest of my chickens and decided to stay the night.

I was touched by this wonderful love story, but - in every love story there is a ”but” - the next day we had a new visitor.

A lovely white hen, proud and strong with three little baby chicks, strode purposely into my garden. Mom and her babies stood around for about an hour and then left.

My whole family laughed with this visit and we all thought the same thing.

The handsome and very clever rooster had left his family and ran away with his new loves.

It was a beautiful – and sad – story, but don't all love stories have elements of happiness and sadness? As a famous poet once wrote: Without the sadness, we would never know the happy times.

Happy Valentine's Day