Chicken Crumbs

Long ago in a little village in Sentani lived an old woman. She lived alone and didn’t have much. Every day was exactly the same. She would wake up and start a fire to heat some water for soup. Then she would sit in her doorway and watch the kids run around chasing the chickens or making up games to play. One day however, they heard that the princess and her daughter would be walking through the village. Such excitement arose. Her neighbors were busy cleaning up their huts, and sweeping their yards. She was not able to do those things anymore so she began to think about what she could give to the princess when she came through. As she looked in her cupboards, the old woman realized she had just enough flour and oil to make one small cake. “I will make a fine cake for the princess’ daughter,” she thought. So for the rest of the day she went about working on the cake. This had to be the best cake she had ever made. She was very careful to make sure it did not burn. When it finally came out of the oven, it looked beautiful. The old woman felt quite proud to have something to give to such an important person.
The next morning, the sound of the princess coming could be heard throughout the village. Everyone was cheering and clapping, happily showing off their freshly cleaned huts, and newly swept yards. As the princess came by, the old woman proudly held out the cake to her daughter. The little girl took the cake and offered the old woman a smile. Up ahead as they walked, the old woman saw the little girl stop to look at the chickens. Then without thinking she began to break off crumbs from the cake to throw to them. The chickens hungrily gobbled up the crumbs, and the little girl began to laugh. One of the neighbors ran up to the old woman and said, “How dare she throw your cake to the chickens!” But the old woman only smiled and said, “At least she had something to throw.”