Legend has it that a hen, in order to repay a debt from a previous life, transformed into a hen and laid eggs for its owner. This story takes place in China.

Poor brother & Rich Sister

Long ago, in a small mountain village in northeastern China, there lived two families: a younger brother’s family in the east courtyard, and an older sister’s family in the west. Their homes were separated by a single wall. The younger brother’s family was poor, sometimes struggling to make ends meet. The older sister’s family, however, had plenty to eat and wear.

Brother Borrows Flour

During the Dragon Boat Festival of that year, the younger brother’s granary was empty again. So he sent his child to his older sister’s house to borrow some grain. Coincidentally, his sister was grinding flour in the mill. She took a small gong, filled it with flour, and had the child take it back.

Wheat harvest season arrived, and the younger brother’s wheat harvest was quite good. He planned to return the flour to his sister. The younger brother figured, since his sister didn’t need this much anyway, returning the flour was just a formality.

So he turned the gong upside down and filled it with a shallow layer of flour, making it appear full. He then sent his child to his older sister. Of course, his sister didn’t mind, and the matter passed.

Died and became a hen

One day, the younger brother fell ill and died. When the younger brother woke up, he found himself a hen in his sister’s home. This hen remembered every detail of her past life. She knew that she owed her sister everything she owed as a human in her previous life, and she had to repay her in this life as a chicken.

The hen grew up, and one day, it was time to lay an egg. She thought to herself, “This time, I can’t let my sister down. I must lay a big egg to repay her.”

She kept trying, desperately trying to make the egg bigger and bigger. Until her crown turned red, she couldn’t hold it any longer. A large egg landed on the straw in the henhouse. The hen looked back and saw, wow, it was huge.

The hen happily ran to her sister, flapping her wings and shouting, “It’s big, it’s big!” Her message was to tell her, “I didn’t let you down this time.”

It’s said that from then on, a tradition was established among hens. After laying an egg, it would always run to its owner, calling out, “That’s a big one! That’s a big one!”

This hen laid eggs at my sister’s house for three years, paying off the debt it owed her in her previous life before finally being reborn.