Story of the Month: The Two Roosters

By Chuck Larkin as remembered and told by Perrin Stifel at the R.A.P.S. Chicken Festival January 13, 2022. Chuck always wanted stories to be shared and told so the stories would never die. If the time is right, tell it!

On our farm we had lots of chickens and hens and two wonderful roosters. One day one of the roosters got sick. Now when people get sick you feed them chicken soup. Chicken soup can cure anything. But I thought for a rooster to get well you should cook up rooster soup.

So, I went out by the fence and chopped off the head of the well rooster so I could cure the sick rooster. Bringing in that body of the dead rooster, I fixed a fire under the iron pot in the fireplace and put the carcass in the water. It smelled so good and was cooking up fine.

I went outside to get a little fresh air and saw a joint snake! Now a joint snake is a cousin to the glass snake. If a glass snake is in a tree and falls it breaks into pieces. A joint snake can also break into pieces but has the ability to join itself up again and is much more venomous.

When I saw that joint snake, I immediately chopped him up and for extra protection in the

future, I carefully picked up the head of the joint snake and threw the head in the fire. I was smarter than I looked! Some folks disagreed with that.

The soup cooked up fine and I spoon-fed that sick rooster hour by hour and day by day until that sick rooster was as well as the well rooster. I was very proud and content.

I went to bed and was sleeping soundly when suddenly I awoke. I heard a terrifying sound outside. It went er-er-er-er-er-sssssss. Er-er-er-er-er-ssssss. It was then I realized that the joint snake had joined itself up and found the head of that dead rooster. From then on, I was haunted by a poultrygeist!

That’s a true story. I would eat fried chicken before I’d ever tell you a lie...