Pepper Crows Once
On Hill Farm the animals ran the mornings themselves, and they had rules about it.
The pig got the muddy corner. Nobody sat in the hens’ hay. And the most important rule was this one: the rooster crows once, and only once.
Pepper was the new rooster. He was small and red and very proud of his brand-new job. Every afternoon he hopped onto the edge of the water trough and practised his crow to the rooster in the water.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!” said Pepper.
The rooster in the water opened his beak too. Pepper thought he looked splendid.
“I am going to be the best rooster Hill Farm has ever had,” said Pepper. “I am going to wake everybody up properly.”
Pepper would crow from the fence above the trough. The fence was just wide enough for one rooster’s feet.
Old Goose kept the time. Old Goose had never once been late. When the first sun touched the gatepost, Old Goose put a little white pebble at the tip of the gatepost’s shadow. The shadow moved round all day. Old Goose nudged the pebble along behind it.
“In the morning I will nod,” said Old Goose. “Then you crow. Once, and only once.”
Pepper counted on his toes. There was a cow, a pig, a sheep, Old Goose, and seven hens.
“One crow will never go round all those,” said Pepper.
On the first morning Pepper flew up onto the fence. The sun touched the gatepost. Old Goose nudged the pebble and nodded.
Pepper puffed out his chest. Everybody would get a crow of their very own.
“Cock-a-doodle-COW!” crowed Pepper.
In the barn, Daisy the cow began to get up. Daisy got up very slowly. Back legs first. Then a rest. Then a think.
“Cock-a-doodle-PIG!”
The pig opened one eye.
“Cock-a-doodle-SHEEP!”
“Baa?” said the sheep.
“Cock-a-doodle-GOOSE!”
“I am already up,” said Old Goose.
“Cock-a-doodle-HEN!” crowed Pepper. “And HEN! And HEN! And HEN, HEN, HEN, HEN!”
By the seventh hen, the pig was snoring again. The sheep was eating breakfast all by itself. And every time Pepper crowed again, Daisy got halfway up, thought, ‘Not yet, then,’ and lay down again.
Up and down. Up and down. Four times, before breakfast.
“Once, and only once,” said Old Goose.
“But then nobody gets their own,” said Pepper.
On the second morning, Pepper had a new plan.
“One crow,” he said to the rooster in the water. “But it will be the biggest crow there ever was.”
The sun touched the gatepost. Old Goose nudged the pebble and nodded. Pepper took a breath so big that all his feathers stuck out.
“Cock-a-doodle-doooooooooooo…”
It went over the barn. It went down the hill, past the pond, and round the turnip field. It went on and on and on. Pepper ran out of breath. The crow went thin. It went wobbly. At the very end it went “…honk.”
Pepper wobbled. Pepper tipped. Pepper fell backwards, right into the water trough.
Splosh!
The pig heard the honk. “Only Old Goose,” said the pig, and rolled over.
The sheep rolled over. The seven hens rolled over. Daisy got halfway up, heard it was only a goose, and lay down again.
“That was not me,” said Old Goose.
Old Goose held out a wing, and Pepper climbed out of the trough. He was dripping. His comb had flopped over one eye.
Daisy was lying down, of course.
“Come and sit by me,” said Daisy. “I’m not going anywhere.”
So Pepper sat against Daisy’s big warm side, and Daisy blew warm air over his feathers. Huff. Huff. Old Goose sat down with them until Pepper stopped dripping.
“Once, and only once,” said Old Goose.
Pepper was much too damp to argue. “All right,” said Pepper. “Once.”
On the third morning Pepper’s tail feathers still stuck out sideways. He remembered what he had said to Old Goose. He did not stop to look in the trough. He just flew up onto the fence.
The sun touched the gatepost. Old Goose nudged the pebble and nodded.
Pepper did not puff up. He took one ordinary breath, and he crowed once, clear and good, like a bell.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
Every animal on Hill Farm got up at the same moment. The pig got up. The sheep got up. All seven hens got up. And Daisy got up, back legs first, then front legs, all the way to the top.
The one crow went round the cow and the pig and the sheep and Old Goose and all seven hens.
“It went round!” said Pepper.
“Oh,” said Daisy. “I’m up.”
They had breakfast together in the yard. Nobody was early. Nobody was late.
Old Goose looked at Pepper. “Say a thing once, and say it well, and everybody hears,” said Old Goose.
Pepper puffed up, just a very little. “Once, and only once,” said Pepper.
That evening the gatepost’s shadow grew long and thin. Old Goose nudged the pebble to the very end of it, and that meant bedtime.
Pepper hopped onto the edge of the trough and looked in. The rooster in the water was a bit untidy and very sleepy. Pepper thought he looked splendid anyway.
“Goodnight,” said Pepper.
Then he hopped down, very carefully, and trotted off to bed.
Down in the barn, Daisy began to lie down, and for once Daisy got there at exactly the right time. The pig closed both eyes. The sheep closed both eyes. The seven hens tucked in their heads, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Old Goose settled by the gatepost, next to the little white pebble.
The moon came up round and yellow over the barn, and everybody on Hill Farm fell asleep.
And in the barn, Pepper tucked his head under his wing against Daisy’s big warm side, and slept, with his one good crow kept safe inside him for the morning.