Andrea Biello |
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tale
THE EGG TREE
LA PIANTA DELLE
UOVA
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Andrea Biello |
Transforming grains into
eggs, that's what I do.
I was very lucky when I was
born... they chose me!!!
I did not end up in a
grinding machine. I was so
lucky because I am a female;
and the long belt that
transported us now has
delivered us.
We are so many and we make
so much noise. What a
strange world. We are born
like this, just like grass
or sand, we are so many.
To tell the whole truth, it
is very tight here, but all
it counts is to make noise.
When I was on the conveyor
belt there were some big
animals with a white coat
choosing us. We (females)
were lucky cause our
brothers were all thrown
into the grinding machine.
I don't really know what is
such a machine (I don't even
know what baby chicks are).
Maybe we are the babies,
maybe that's how those big
animals dressed in white
call us.
As soon as I was born, I
wanted to see my mom. But
the run immediately started
and Hyppiieee. I thought I
would meet her later.
Now I am here, a lot of time
has gone by, I have learnt a
very important thing: I have
to make eggs.
The eggs is what we female
chicks produce. We are egg
makers, that's how one of
those big animals in the
white coat called us.
He said we are more than 1
million in this building,
can u imagine what we could
do in such a number?
We could turn the world
upside down, get organised
and create a city just for
us, we could cover the world
with our eggs, we could fill
up a stadium, we could make
a lake, a river with our
eggs.
There is a friend next to me
who never talks, she always
eats the food she gets and
once told me a terrible
story.
She told me that if we don't
produce enough eggs the
giants with the white coat
come and take us to the
supermarket. So she eats as
much as possible and makes
as many eggs as possible. "until
I make eggs I will stay here!".
This is what she yelled at
me one day when I told her I
was tired of the life in
this chicken farm.
She told me that the
supermarket is a place where
other giant animals buy
pieces of smaller animals.
The smaller animals are us.
So now from that day I eat
as much as possible and make
lots and lots of eggs.
The giants in the white coat
come every day to check how
many eggs we have made, they
pick them up and give us
more food to transform.
You know? we egg laying hens
have a great power:
transform food into eggs.
Nobody can do this except us.
I make a lot of them, even
if I start to be tired.
When the giants came to take
my friend she told me:
"Goodbye for good"
I don't know what this word
means, once I heard one of
them saying that god is like
one of them, another time
they said god is like a pig.
I hope she went to the pigs
cause I understood that the
less the animals look like
the giants the better they
are.
I am staying here for many
months now, my legs are very
tired and they grew inside
the iron bar of my cage, so
I cannot move anymore. My
nails are so long and sharp,
they look like razors and
the bottom of my feet is
growing around the net of my
cage.
Maybe I am becoming a plant!
Sometimes, when I look up
though the whole of our farm
I think I can see a very
bright light, but it is
different from the one the
giants make us see. That
light is warm and with a
pure color.
The more time goes by, the
less light we see. Many of
us are very angry with
everyone and find any excuse
to fight with each other,
luckily we are separated by
our cages.
I have heard that there are
places where they cut your
beak if u fight and that is
very painful.
Those giants don't know that
our beak is not like their
nails but it's full of
nervous veins… bbrr I get
shivers when I think of it.
I am lucky that I am an
egg-laying hen.
Since my new cage friend has
arrived peace is over. She
is always complaining that
it is not fair that we 'hens'
must stay in such cages all
the times and so she decided
not to do eggs anymore.
I ma very anxious, if the
giants realise we make less
eggs they will send us to
the supermarket and I don't
want to go there. I prefer
to become a plant in this
farm than being in a
supermarket and be bought by
a giant. I have decided to
eat more and to make more
eggs, also for my new friend
on strike. She is always
nervous and told me that if
she could she would escape
from here, she said that
outside from that hole that
we see there are many plants
and perfumes, not like here
that it always stinks of
ammonia!
Maybe she is right, I would
like to see what there is
out there. Sometimes a light
breeze comes from that hole
to my beak and I can smell
incredible things, I cannot
explain it but it's
fantastic: I would love to
run on the conveyor belt
just like I did when I was
born, I would like to be in
the grinder to see what's in
there, I am sure the giants
hide something in there and
I am so fed up to transform
feed into eggs. I can't do
it anymore. I screamed it
out loud, in the ears of my
companions, out there is a
world that we have never
seen, there are good smells
that the giants hide from us
so that we make eggs and I
don't want this anymore!
The youngest of my friends,
who arrived not recently,
says she doesn't care. she
wants to make eggs cause she
doesn't want to go to the
supermarket and here at
least she has us.
By now my nails are way too
long to be able to move and
they really hurt me but the
giants couldn't care less, I
saw them picking up boxes
and putting some of us
inside. They were all
screaming , I saw them. they
were the best . when I
arrived in this farm they
were my idols cause they
were making so many eggs and
I did everything possible to
imitate them, but now those
men say they don't produce
enough anymore. Liars! they
make eggs better than all of
us here.
the boxes became 10, then
100 then even more and when
they were a lot a big door
opened, the farm was
suddenly filled up with warm
daily light, my eyes were
hurting and I could not keep
them open for long but I
managed to see all my
friends with their heads
sticking out of the boxes
that were looking at me and
screaming. they were going
to the supermarket.
Those idiots of giants, we
always did everything for
them , we always transformed
their feed into eggs and now
our turn has come ...
I heard them saying that the
production went down so it
is time to slaughter us.
So we all thought that if we
were going to make more eggs
they would have kept us and
we tried our best. But my
legs are really hurting me,
I have blisters everywhere,
on my chest, on my feet and
now the meat is totally
around the iron.
I ended up in a box very
small and tight. the
feathers of my friends are
everywhere and I can see out
of the box, if I look up I
see so many of my friends
screaming, while downstairs
I see only our excrements,
what a stink... I see my
friends who are going to
stay in the farm and I would
like to greet them for the
last time, but we are too
many and they cannot
recognise me, we are almost
1 million in our farm. we
could build a city of egg
laying hens if they would
allow us to, we could run if
they would allow us to.
the big door opened and I
screamed as well, I knew I
was going to go to the
supermarket. I was trying to
imagine but I could only
scream, I was scared and my
friend and I were so tight
in those hot and stinking
boxes that some of us
started to faint. I was
looking outside and finally
I could see the smell that
so many times I had imagined.
it was green and it was the
smell of grass. the most
beautiful thing of my life
was the smell of the grass...and
the light of the sun. I had
never seen them, I had only
heard stories about them. I
had stolen the words from
the giants in order to dream
in the farm. My friends are
still inside, I feel sorry
for them that they cannot
see the beauty of the grass.
Maybe supermarkets don't
exist and this is the pay
for our hard work.
I am so weak, my legs are
too weak, I have never run
and the weight of my friends
is almost choking me. I am
happy, I ma a lucky hen
cause I saw the sun I saw
that the grass is green and
smells good. My friends are
all crying but I cannot hear
them anymore. I want to keep
my eyes open to see as many
things as possible. there
are beautiful things in the
world, e.g. there are pieces
of grass that grow on pieces
of wood, they call them
trees and they are
beautiful, they are green
and brown, I saw the sky and
it is fantastic, consider
that the chickens smaller
than us can fly and I am
sure I could have done that
too if they would have let
me to.
I am very tired but I am
happy cause I have seen the
world, next life I go for
the grinder to see where
that brings me.
Some say that those giants
are called human beings and
they are very stupid animals,
greedy and arrogant. they
spend their time eating our
eggs, building roads and
supermarkets where they can
sell them to other humans.
So they don't realise how
big trees are and what a
good smell the grass has.
To all of them, poor fools,
I wish them to become, one
day, egg laying hens, just
like I was.
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