The Rooster Who Would Be Immortal — Chapter 12: The Feather Worth a Silver

[ { "type": "reversal", "title": "Few Feathers, Many Mothers", "hook": "Shen's runner bet on rare feathers. He lost.", "script": "Shen's runner bet on rare feathers. He lost. In the valley town, mothers pinned a red feather on their children before the county exams, for luck: a feather from the clever rooster of Cloudpine. Broker Shen's runner sat in the gatehouse and paid up to a silver and four coppers for one. 'Few feathers,' he told them cheerfully. 'Many mothers. The price goes up.' Then Ling set a basket beside the kitchen pump: KITCHEN FEATHERS. FREE. THEY DO NOT MAKE ANYBODY CLEVER. By the end of breakfast, the basket was empty. 'Five coppers,' said the runner, blinking at the first fistful. Then, to the next: 'Two.' Then: 'One copper. For all of them.' By noon he had stopped buying. 'Who will pay a silver for one red feather,' he said bitterly, 'when the next stall gives away a sackful?' Shen's runner bet on rare feathers. He lost.", "loopLine": "Shen's runner bet on rare feathers. He lost.", "images": [ "a thin runner in a little stone gatehouse holding a red feather up to the light, a basket of feathers on his knees, a junior disciple holding out his hand for a coin, a small rooster staring at the feather from the doorway", "a large basket overflowing with red and brown feathers beside a wooden water pump, a hand-painted sign propped against it, a line of disciples grabbing handfuls, a small rooster watching from a woodpile" ], "onScreenText": "Few feathers. Many mothers. The price goes up.", "cta": "Full episode: The Feather Worth a Silver" }, { "type": "trick", "title": "Free Is the Cheapest Price", "hook": "Brass the rooster made his own feathers worthless.", "script": "Brass the rooster made his own feathers worthless. Valley mothers wanted them as exam charms. Hiding them would only push the price up. Then Brass saw the runner pay a silver and four coppers for a hen's feather. He could not tell them apart. Rare and wanted, the price climbs. Flood it, and it falls. It only works while buyers cannot tell the extra from the real thing, and while the wanting stays the same, and it hurts everyone holding it. So they gave a basket of hen feathers away free. By noon, one copper, then nothing. Brass the rooster made his own feathers worthless.", "loopLine": "Brass the rooster made his own feathers worthless.", "images": [ "a thin runner in a little stone gatehouse holding a red feather up to the light, a basket of feathers on his knees, a junior disciple holding out his hand for a coin, a small rooster staring at the feather from the doorway", "a large basket overflowing with red and brown feathers beside a wooden water pump, a hand-painted sign propped against it, a line of disciples grabbing handfuls, a small rooster watching from a woodpile" ], "onScreenText": "A feather could not make anybody clever.", "cta": "Full episode: The Feather Worth a Silver" }, { "type": "joke", "title": "Worth His Weight in Silver", "hook": "Brass the rooster's feathers sold for silver.", "script": "Brass the rooster's feathers sold for silver. Since the lye burn, his feathers had been working loose, a few every night. In the valley town, mothers had started pinning a red feather on their children before the county exams, for luck. A feather from the clever rooster of Cloudpine. Broker Shen's runner was paying a silver for one. A silver. For one feather. Brass had been called a curse, a fool bird and, more than once, soup. He stood up a little taller in the straw. 'Do not look so pleased,' said Elder Mo. 'Today they want your feathers because they make children clever. Tomorrow somebody asks what makes the rooster clever.' Brass stood down again, a little. Brass the rooster's feathers sold for silver.", "loopLine": "Brass the rooster's feathers sold for silver.", "images": [ "a small golden-red rooster with a bare patch on his breast sitting wide awake in the dark straw of a wooden coop before dawn, one wing folded tight", "a thin runner in a little stone gatehouse holding a red feather up to the light, a basket of feathers on his knees, a junior disciple holding out his hand for a coin, a small rooster staring at the feather from the doorway" ], "onScreenText": "Called a curse, a fool bird and, more than once, soup.", "cta": "Full episode: The Feather Worth a Silver" }, { "type": "heart", "title": "The Bare Patch", "hook": "Brass gave away free feathers. Mo brought more.", "script": "Brass gave away free feathers. Mo brought more. The rooster's burned feathers kept vanishing from his coop, bought for the valley at a silver each. Ling wanted to hide every one. Brass laid pebbles. 'Fewer feathers,' said Ling slowly. 'And the same mothers. The price goes up. And somebody pulls one out of you.' So Brass carried out a beakful of hen feathers, the kind that lie in every coop in the world. Ling began to laugh. 'Free,' said Elder Mo, when they told him. 'You want to give away the kitchen's feathers. For nothing.' He looked at the bare patch on the rooster's breast. Then he went to the storeroom, and came back with the sack of pillow feathers. Brass gave away free feathers. Mo brought more.", "loopLine": "Brass gave away free feathers. Mo brought more.", "images": [ "a small golden-red rooster with a bare patch on his breast sitting wide awake in the dark straw of a wooden coop before dawn, one wing folded tight", "a large basket overflowing with red and brown feathers beside a wooden water pump, a hand-painted sign propped against it, a line of disciples grabbing handfuls, a small rooster watching from a woodpile" ], "onScreenText": "He looked at the bare patch on the rooster's breast.", "cta": "Full episode: The Feather Worth a Silver" } ]

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