My girlfriend Barbara and I had to make a run to Stella's, a decent sized consignment shop on 8th Avenue South in what I call Antiques Alley. There are a plethora of great shops and fantastic bargains if you look hard enough and have a little patience. Anyway....While we were picking up a lamp that Barbara purchased I came across a neat little book titled "Keep on Laughing" by our Great State's Poet Laureate. It's comprised of Tennessee Folklore, poetry and silly stories and "The Day the Chickens Died and Came back to Life had me laughing for at least 20 minutes. I had to share it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
"The Day the Chickens Died and Came back to Life"
By: "Pek" Gunn, State of TN Poet Laureate
When I was a boy there was a joke story that was told on every family that lived on Tumblin Creek...My family was no exception..Back then, there was a certain illegal Manufacturing Enterprise dedicated exclusively to the production of joy-juice.. It was commonly known as a "Moonshine Still" and operators of these stills played hide and seek with the Law day after day..The runs were most always at night because in the daytime the upward curling smoke was a dead give-away that something was cooking.. The operators moved from spot to spot every few days to keep from being caught in action.. One day the High Sheriff headed for Tumblin' Creek.. He found the still near a spring at the head of a hollow not far from our house.. Several barrels containing hundreds of gallons of mash sat nearby foaming and fuming.. A crackling wood fire under the cooker was ample proof that the big run was to start soon...The operators no doubt had taken flight and watched the Raiders as they overturned barrels of mash and demolished the still...Next day my Papa and a neighbor, hearing about the raid took a wash-tub and headed for the demolishment to get a tub full of mash to feed the hogs...Returning to the house with the hogfood, they set it in the backyard to wait for feeding time. ... The neighbor said, "Billie, it's mid evening and a long time 'till dark. Let's go down to Charles James' store and see them new doors in which he claims will keep the flys out of the of house..." The store was two miles away and they went on foot...About an hour later, Mama, my sister Willie Mae and I drove up in an old buggy that he we had borrowed to make a trip to McEwen....My! What a sight, we couldn't believe our eyes for chickens were lying everywhere...Mama said, "O! Lawdy Mercy, some awful calamity has hit my chickens; and I was counting on them to buy clothes and school books for you children this fall. Now I don't know what in the world I'll do." She turned to me and said, "Richard, I guess you'll have to start digging May-apple root; and Willie Mae can pick stock peas. That way many we can scrape enough together to keep you two in warm clothers for the Winter." Then she said" "Well, we won't lose everything, we'll pick the chickens and maybe we can use the breast and belly feathers.Not the best kind of feathers by any means but the best we can do, since the turtles caught all the little goslings." So we picked the chickens, everyone of them; and I threw them over in a gulley...Mama said that Papa could cut 'em up when he got back and we'd make soap out of them rather than lose the whole flock...You never saw the like of pimply flesh heaped in a gulley... Mama was in the kitchen fixin' supper when Papa got back from the store....She was crying...Papa wanted to know what had happened to the chickens..."I guess the Cholera hit 'em" Mama sobbed. "they were all dead when we got back from town, we picked them and saved the feathers and we can make soap out of them and that will help some"....Dead? Papa said, "come out here, I want to show you something.."Mama followed him to the front door with Millie Mae and me rushing up from behind...And there in the front yard was the most amusing sight you have ever seen....All of those chickens had come back to life and were walking around in a confused state, looking at each other in bewilderment...The pullets would look at their boy-friends as if to say, "Now just what did happen to you big bird?" Mama's tears of sadness turned to laughter while Willie Mae and I giggled...When Papa started to slop the hogs, the found the mash was gone, but, staggering chicken tracks led in all directions from the tub, a clue which solved the mystery...drunken chickens.
(C) 1970 - Tumblin' Creek Features Sydicate
901 McClurken Avenue, Nashville, Tenn. 37206
"The Day the Chickens Died and Came back to Life"
By: "Pek" Gunn, State of TN Poet Laureate
When I was a boy there was a joke story that was told on every family that lived on Tumblin Creek...My family was no exception..Back then, there was a certain illegal Manufacturing Enterprise dedicated exclusively to the production of joy-juice.. It was commonly known as a "Moonshine Still" and operators of these stills played hide and seek with the Law day after day..The runs were most always at night because in the daytime the upward curling smoke was a dead give-away that something was cooking.. The operators moved from spot to spot every few days to keep from being caught in action.. One day the High Sheriff headed for Tumblin' Creek.. He found the still near a spring at the head of a hollow not far from our house.. Several barrels containing hundreds of gallons of mash sat nearby foaming and fuming.. A crackling wood fire under the cooker was ample proof that the big run was to start soon...The operators no doubt had taken flight and watched the Raiders as they overturned barrels of mash and demolished the still...Next day my Papa and a neighbor, hearing about the raid took a wash-tub and headed for the demolishment to get a tub full of mash to feed the hogs...Returning to the house with the hogfood, they set it in the backyard to wait for feeding time. ... The neighbor said, "Billie, it's mid evening and a long time 'till dark. Let's go down to Charles James' store and see them new doors in which he claims will keep the flys out of the of house..." The store was two miles away and they went on foot...About an hour later, Mama, my sister Willie Mae and I drove up in an old buggy that he we had borrowed to make a trip to McEwen....My! What a sight, we couldn't believe our eyes for chickens were lying everywhere...Mama said, "O! Lawdy Mercy, some awful calamity has hit my chickens; and I was counting on them to buy clothes and school books for you children this fall. Now I don't know what in the world I'll do." She turned to me and said, "Richard, I guess you'll have to start digging May-apple root; and Willie Mae can pick stock peas. That way many we can scrape enough together to keep you two in warm clothers for the Winter." Then she said" "Well, we won't lose everything, we'll pick the chickens and maybe we can use the breast and belly feathers.Not the best kind of feathers by any means but the best we can do, since the turtles caught all the little goslings." So we picked the chickens, everyone of them; and I threw them over in a gulley...Mama said that Papa could cut 'em up when he got back and we'd make soap out of them rather than lose the whole flock...You never saw the like of pimply flesh heaped in a gulley... Mama was in the kitchen fixin' supper when Papa got back from the store....She was crying...Papa wanted to know what had happened to the chickens..."I guess the Cholera hit 'em" Mama sobbed. "they were all dead when we got back from town, we picked them and saved the feathers and we can make soap out of them and that will help some"....Dead? Papa said, "come out here, I want to show you something.."Mama followed him to the front door with Millie Mae and me rushing up from behind...And there in the front yard was the most amusing sight you have ever seen....All of those chickens had come back to life and were walking around in a confused state, looking at each other in bewilderment...The pullets would look at their boy-friends as if to say, "Now just what did happen to you big bird?" Mama's tears of sadness turned to laughter while Willie Mae and I giggled...When Papa started to slop the hogs, the found the mash was gone, but, staggering chicken tracks led in all directions from the tub, a clue which solved the mystery...drunken chickens.
(C) 1970 - Tumblin' Creek Features Sydicate
901 McClurken Avenue, Nashville, Tenn. 37206
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