Many attempts have been made to explain why the cock is sacred to
Minerva; and his claims to her protection are often founded on an
assumed preeminence of wisdom and sagacity. This brings to our mind a
story related by a gentleman, late resident in the Netherlands, of a
cock in a farm-yard somewhere in Holland, near Rotterdam, whose sagacity
saved him from perishing in a flood, occasioned by the bursting of one
of the dykes. The water rushing furiously and suddenly into the village,
swamped every house to the height of the first story, so that the
inhabitants were obliged to mount, and had no communication for awhile,
except by boats. The cattle and other animals and many fowls perished.
Our friend chanticleer, however, had the adroitness to jump into a large
wooden bowl, containing some barley, in which he eat, and quietly
floated, till the flood had subsided, having not only a good ship to
carry him, but provision on board during his voyage.
_Forster's Perennial Calendar._
* * * * *