The lost hen

Yesterday afternoon I went out to visit some friends with Eve. When we got back I was surprised to see one of our hens, Fabienne, but not her constant companion Mildred. Simon confirmed that she had disappeared a couple of hours earlier. We thought maybe she was somewhere in the compound, or just perhaps had got out of the compound, but if so would be back later. However, when she wasn't there at the usual time I give the hens grain, and then didn't appear in her usual roosting spot, we began to worry more.

This morning I was ready to give up hope, thinking that maybe she'd been stolen - a common occurrence in the village. Then Simon came to say he'd heard something in our outside storehouse and was going to get the key to look in it. I told him that I'd stood at the open door yesterday evening and called Mildred, but had heard nothing. But when he checked, there she was! What a joy to hear Simon saying, "Mildred!"

I have always understood the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin on an intellectual level, but today I really felt a similar joy. Mildred is "just a hen", but she was lost and is found!


Mildred when she had just arrived in May