A fable of freedom

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly
Sun-Mi Hwang, translated by Chi-Young Kim
Penguin 2014,
pp 134
Rs 299

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang, originally published in Korean and translated into English by Chi-Young Kim, is a parable about life, freedom, and the dreams of a little hen.

Sprout, the heroine, is a hen who lives in a coop when the story begins. She has chosen her own name, for the word ‘sprout’ reminds her of a leaf that “…embraced the wind and the sun before falling and rotting and turning into mulch for bringing fragrant flowers into bloom.”

The hen, with her dreams of liberty and motherhood, has little to do within the coop. All her eggs are taken away as she lays them, besides, the barn is almost beyond her reach. The chickens and ducks there seem better off than she is in her coop, at least to her. The humans of the tale decide that certain birds need to be ‘culled’.

 At first, little Sprout does not understand what the word means, and somehow misconstrues it and gives herself hope, but ensuing incidents convince her that the word is not as she thought it was. However, her escape from death gives her respite from the coop in strange ways. 

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly is a slim book that has more animal characters than human ones. The human couple in the story, the purported ‘owners’ of the chickens and ducks of the barn and coop, do not understand, nor do they make an attempt to understand, the minds of the animals under their care.

Characters in the book are etched well and easy to identify with. Sprout, with her visions of laying an egg and hatching it, has her moments of strength and fortitude, as well as deep wisdom. She is by nature brave and patient, as well as empathetic and affectionate. Her only friend from the barn, a duck called Straggler, is as independent as she is. Loneliness and fear of the weasel overshadow a major part of Sprout’s daily life. After her departure from the coop, she eventually finds a way to fulfil, at least partly, some of her dreams. The rooster and his hen in the barn are arrogant and bossy.

The old guard dog is cantankerous. Even Greentop the duck has his own streak of individuality that leaves him wondering about his origins, alternating between moody contemplation and bursts of free spirit.

The humans appear callous and unsympathetic, speaking lightly of clipping wings. The weasel has challenges of her own that are revealed in later portions of the book. Not all characters who fight survive to see another morning, and not all of them find their true calling in the first try. Greentop’s need and willingness to join up with a group of wild ducks takes him time and effort, as well as injury and lonely nights.

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly is whimsical, its prose sparse and complimented by Nomoco’s illustrations. Subtle messages of freedom and friendship, and the perils of unsheltered life, are dexterously woven into the fabric of the tale.

Conversations flow naturally, bringing out the essence of a character’s thoughts and feelings. Sprout’s surroundings seem enormous, but she is, at the end of it all, a hen, and while her sharp eye reveals a dangerous and vast world around her, she is still close to the coop. Close, but far enough to avoid its pitfalls all over again.

Overall, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly is an interesting, gentle read. Sprout’s unique traits and her plucky character give insight into a world where not all that is different is welcomed, and not all who are different are weak in character.

Despite being laughed at and jeered at for her loss of feathers at a certain point in the story, Sprout perseveres. And eventually, that perseverance takes her to her dreams.