Long long ago, King Swan (天鹅国王) had a beautiful daughter. On her 15th birthday, she wished that when she was old enough, she could choose her own husband. King Swan agreed with her.

When the princess (公主) was old enough, King Swan called all the birds to his home. Birds came from everywhere, even from far away. King Swan asked his lovely daughter to choose one she liked. She looked over the many birds. Finally, she chose a green long-necked peacock (孔雀). She told her father, “This bird, the peacock, will be my husband.”

Hearing that the peacock was the lucky one, all the other birds crowded around to congratulate (祝贺) him. The excited peacock said nothing but held his head high. Later he began to shout and show his beauty in a strange dance. The other birds started to laugh.

King Swan was angry. Standing in the middle of the birds, he said, “Sir Peacock, your voice is sweet, and you are really very pretty. But you are not modest (谦逊的) at all. I will not allow my daughter to marry you!”

The princess also learned she was wrong. Then King Swan married his daughter to a modest bird. The peacock flew away, having lost a beautiful wife.

There was a young man who was in trouble. He went bankrupt (破产) in business. Although he worked hard, failure was all that he had seen. After he tried again and again, he left everything behind and went into a forest alone. In the forest, he met an old man who had lived there for a long time. He shared his story with the old man. “Can you give me one good reason not to give up?” He asked the old man.

“Look,” the old man said, pointing to two plants. “Do you see that fern (蕨类植物) and bamboo there?”

“Yes,” the man answered.

“When I planted the fern and bamboo seeds (种子), I watered them carefully. Within (在……之内) a short period of time, the fern quickly grew from the earth,” the old man went on. “I watered and took care of the bamboo seed for years, however, it didn’t sprout (发芽). There was no sign of growth. But I did not give up and continued looking after it. In the fifth year, a small sprout came out. And within six months, the tree grew a hundred feet tall.”

“The little bamboo tree had been growing underground in the past four years, developing a root strong enough for its ground growth in the fifth year. If it hadn’t done this, it would not be so strong as it is now. So you know, all the time you were trying, you were actually growing strong roots.” the old man said. Finally, the man thanked the old man deeply. Then he left the forest with the hope for life.

We have four chickens: Peanut, Cookie, Ice-cream and Potato. My husband Andrew made a beautiful coop（笼子）for them together with our kids.

He gave some tools to the kids because he believed it was important that they could really make something. Then, he slowly helped them. The kids made the mistakes of learning一a board cut too short and hands cut by knives一but in the end, Andrew did some tricks and the coop looked perfect.

The chickens love their perfectly imperfect home and we like to let them run around the yard freely. Yesterday, we needed to go to the city center, knowing that the chickens won't go very far. When we got back, my son, Gordon, ran to check on them. There were Peanut, Cookie and Potato, looking a mess. Ice-cream was nowhere to be seen.

We searched around the yard and found lots of feathers（羽毛）. By this time, Gordon's eyes got watery. Ice-cream was his favorite chicken.

Andrew picked Gordon up and held him in his arms. As we stood there, accepting that we were now a three-chicken family, we heard it一a soft clucking sound. Andrew put Gordon down and they looked under the bush. There was Ice-cream, a half-naked(半裸的）chicken. She looked strange, but she was totally fine. Andrew carefully picked her up and returned her to the coop.

The next day, Andrew had a meeting with the kids. The kids believed that the chickens should stay in the coop, safe from everything that may hurt them. Andrew disagreed. He believed that we should be more careful, letting the chickens out when we were in the yard. He encourages our kids to take risks. He sees that the risk of living life一by having the freedom to walk around the yard一is better than the safety of a coop.