A North Korean Fairy Tale
I found this on a new North Korean website today. I'd post the link, but you have to sign up for a username and password to get to this page. Here's the link to the homepage Link
It looks to be a translation by a Korean. I checked the Korean page to see the original story in Korean but it's only on the English page. Lots of other interesting stuff on the site - lots of propaganda.
Once upon a time, there lived a bad-tempered cock in a village . He swaggered, saying that he was the strongest in the world.
Very often he pecked out and scratched the grain the villagers had grown by the sweat of their brow.
Probably for this reason, the frogs and grasshoppers thought he really had a matchless strength. They were so afraid of him that as soon as they saw him, they would make way for him or hide themselves.
Once a butterfly visited a flower garden. The cock came and jumbled up the beautiful flowers. The butterfly got angry.
“Why are you here and behaving like that?” shouted the butterfly and was ready to fight the cock. “Butterfly, you can’t be a match of the strong cock. You’d better drop the idea of fighting.” Saying this, his friends detained him. “We can’t live in peace even a day if he’s left alone,” said the butterfly and flew off in spite of their advice. The cock stared at the butterfly for a good while. Drawing in a full breath he grumbled, “What an overbearing little thing! It seems he doesn’t know that my claws are like...”
All of a sudden, a whirlwind rose with a snap. Up flew the butterfly like a feather, and the cock’s golden stick was broken.
And the mad cock, with his big wings spread, flew into the sky to chase the butterfly, muttering: “Flutter you may, but no faster than the fly.” With all his might, the butterfly flew to an ash tree and slipped through the branches. The cock was sure to catch the butterfly fluttering before his eyes, and flew on desperately. But he ran into the tree and was caught in the branches. The cock barely managed to get himself out after a hard struggle. By the time he was making to breathe, the butterfly had already alighted on his beak and tail several times.
“Jump you will, but no better than the flea.” With these words the cock made another jump upon the butterfly. “Ouch!” The cock fell onto the ground with a painful cry. It was not before the dust had settled down that he managed to rise to his feet. Sitting on his crest, the butterfly laughed heartily. The cock lay on the ground, panting and goggling his eyes. Then, in an engaging voice, he said: “Oh, it’s you, my cute butterfly. I have been taking all this trouble to look for you, because I’m so eager to hear you sing. Do come here and sing a song.” “Why should I only sing a song for you, uncle cock?” said the butterfly and began to dance. “It’s nice to see you dance, but I can’t have a good look; you’re a bit too far away.” said the cock, crawling nearer and nearer to him.
He pounced upon the fluttering butterfly, but he was already flying downhill. Missing the butterfly, the cock was so mad that he scratched his chest. He fell upon the butterfly, only to throw himself into a pond with a splash.
The dandy cock looked so miserable, indeed. His dark red saw-like crest drooped and his bright coloured feathers were soaking wet.
The cock gasped in the water before he jumped up, grating his hooked bill fiercely.
The butterfly flew past a thornbush and a rock to the top of a high precipice. The chaser gathered his last strength and shot up into the blue sky after the butterfly.
However, the drenched cock fell headlong into the bottom of the precipice.
Thus the village was now free from the outrageous acts of the cock, and beautiful flowers came to bloom in the garden of butterflies.