Philosophy: Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

The Hen myth: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Philosophy, by its very nature, seeks answers to questions like this one.

"Which came first the chicken or the egg?"

It is one of life's oldest, unsolved mysteries. The following is a simple story, which may shed some light on this inquiry.

The hen myth

Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a chicken. Her name was Hen.

"I am lonesome," Hen said to herself, silently. "It really does not seem fair to me, that I am all by myself, when all of the other animals in the whole wide world, already have someone else."

The creator heard her thoughts and gazed at her, from up above. After a moment of silence, he asked Hen quietly, "What is to be gained by giving you a partner? You seem to be just fine, all by yourself." 

He waited patiently for her reply. 

"That Hen is always complaining about something," he said to himself. "First it is the chicken feed. Never enough it seems, no matter how much I give her." 

No answer came, as he waited for her response.

"I am still waiting," he said. "Give me one good reason why I should give you a partner."

"She is forever pecking at something," he reminded himself. "She is worse than a woodpecker, sometimes. Her constant pecking is enough to give me a headache."

"Well, I don't know," said Hen finally. "Maybe because"

She brooded, for a moment longer.

"I am still waiting for your answer," the creator said, as he watched her brooding. "Then, she complains about the water, because she does not want to swim with the ducks," he reminded himself. "She is always clucking too! Never stops."

"I like to brood," said Hen. "But, I don't want to brood alone. Does that seem so wrong to you?"

"I actually think that you brood too much!" replied the creator. "You are always over anxious about something. Why are you so gloomy all the time?"

"It is not that I am gloomy," said Hen. "I am meditating."

"Meditating? You look like you are very worried and depressed," the creator replied. "You even sound that way when you cluck!"

"Well, wouldn't you be depressed, if you didn't have anyone else to cluck to?" asked Hen. "I am not asking for too much, am I?"

"I am wondering why I should create more hens like you, but then, if you are not gloomy, worried and depressed, maybe I should rethink my stance. There is nothing wrong with meditating. I like to do that, too. Let me brood about it, for a bit. I will get back to you on this."

So, Hen went about her chicken business, for the rest of the day. First, she went over to the feeder and filled her gullet.

"I guess I was hungry after all. Maybe my creator thinks I am over-indulging, I fill my gullet, but I always leave some food for the next meal. I never eat more than I should. I always have some to spare, even for the soggy ducks!"

Then, she took a sip of water. "I like water, but I don't like to swim in it. I never did like having wet feathers. It is bad enough when it rains. Do all birds have to swim?" she wondered. "I always keep myself clean! I even pick up tiny stones, with my beak. Well, that does help my digestion, too. I don't think there is anything wrong with that either."

Hen looked around.

"I always thought contemplation, brooding and introspection were good for my chicken soul. Besides that, what else do I have to do with my time, other than meditate? My broodiness may not be good, after all. Maybe I should get busy and put some more straw in here? That will make my brooder more comfortable and freshen it up a bit, too." She began to move the straw around with her feet. "Anyhow, it's time to redecorate this place."

"Perhaps I should make my brooder larger, just in case I do wind up with a partner. I really should make it big enough for two!"

She began picking up tiny pieces of straw and piled them high. "That is beginning to look quite comfy!"

Hen smiled and clucked happily, as she worked at enlarging her brooder. "I wonder what my creator is going to say, when he sees it?" she wondered. "Maybe I should wash my feet more often too, so that the straw stays clean. I have such funny feet."

She laughed aloud, for the very first time.

"I think I will preen my feathers as well, so that I look good, when my creator comes back again. If I had a comb"

Hen laughed aloud again.

"I just know that I am going to get a positive answer from my creator!"

The creator smiled, as he looked down and listened to her laughter. "I am going to give you something to really laugh about," he decided. "It will come as a complete surprise."

He chuckled.

"If nothing else, I am learning patience." Hen said, as she waited some more. "I am definitely going to change my behavior," she decided. "It is such a gorgeous, sunny day! I am going to sit here and enjoy it, regardless of what kind of an answer I get from my creator." She waited and waited. As she sat there, she felt something very strange happening.

"Hmm," said her creator. "I really don't need two old hens that cluck all day. Is she ever going to be in for a surprise, when she realizes, that I just created an egg for her to hatch. She can just sit there on it. It will hatch, if she has the patience to wait. If not, she is out of luck."

The creator laughed aloud.

"In my master plan for creation, I still have a whole bunch of tricks up my sleeve."

He watched her meditate.

"This is hilarious! I have decided that this, tiny chick that I have given her, will be a rooster. I gave him a bright red comb. If she is a good mother, maybe I will even give her a few more chicks, later," the creator thought to himself. "I love to create and I really do love all of my creations!"

The creator rollicked with laughter, in anticipation of the event. He continued to observe Hen, from up above.

She moved around in the brooder, trying to get more comfortable. Suddenly, she realized that she was sitting on something very hard, that was partly hidden, deep in the straw. "This is huge!" she said, looking at the egg, with total amazement. "What kind of a rock is this?"

"This is a first. I am keeping that rock," she decided after a while. "It is much too big for me to move and besides that, it keeps me warm or am I keeping it warm?" she asked herself. "Where did it come from?"

Twenty days later, Hen was still waiting patiently for her answer. "I wonder where my creator is," she wondered. "He promised me an answer and I have been so patient!"

The very next day, Hen realized that something else was happening. The rock beneath her started to vibrate. "Oh, no!" she said, as she heard a cracking sound. "I must have broken it."

The Creator roared with silent laughter.

"What on earth?" Hen was startled. "Oh, my!" she said to herself.

"That should keep her busy for a while," the creator said to himself. "She won't have time to brood now. She is not going to sleep in the brooder all day, either. That little rooster is going to get her up, every single morning. He will sit on the fence and crow at her, as soon as the sun comes up! I will keep her busy laying eggs, too."

"Brooding is going to take on a whole new light!" Hen decided. 

And it did!

The moral of this story leads us into another, important philosophical question.

"Would a creator, who truly loves his creation, create a chick, without a mother to nurture it?" 

In philosophy, there is nothing more exciting, than to posit an answer for a question that leads right into another question. Such is the nature of a philosophical debate.