C O C K I N G    T R I V I A




- TRIVIA ONE -

Would you believe, based on this poem by
Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu who lived around
the period 300-200 B.C., there was cockfighting in China
during that time?


From the book THE WAY OF CHUANG TZU

by Thomas Merton

The Fightingcock

Chi Hsing Tzu was a trainer of fighting cocks
For King Hsuan.
He was training a fine bird.
The King kept asking if the bird were
Ready for combat.
“Not yet”, said the trainer.
“He is full of fire.
He is ready to pick a fight
With every other bird. He is vain and confident
Of his own strength.”
After ten days, he answered again:
“Not yet. He flares up
When he hears another bird crow.”
After ten more days:
“Not yet. He still gets
That angry look
And ruffles his feathers.”
Agaain ten days:
The trainer sair, “Now he is nearly ready.
When another bird crows, his eye
Does not even flicker
He stands immobile
Like a cock of wood.
He is a mature fighter.
Other birds
Will take one look at him
And run.”


- TRIVIA 2 -

Would you believe, the great American President Abraham Lincoln got the title Honest Abe from his stint as a cockfights referee.

When requested by a group of citizens to ban cockfighting, Lincoln didn’t turn Judas to something that provided him livelihood and enormous leisure in the earlier days.

In his characteristic eloquence, he excused himself by saying, “As long as the Almighty permits intelligent men, created in His image and likeness, to fight in public and kill each other while the world looks on approvingly, it’s not for me to deprive the chickens of the same privilege”.