rkings, and it was the most alive little spark of a creature in seven kingdoms at that moment. Connie crouched to watch in a sort of ecstasy. Life, life! Pure, sparky, fearless new life! New life! So tiny and so utterly without fear! Even when it scampered a little, scrambling into the coop again, and disappeared under the hen's feathers in answer to the mother hen's wild alarm-cries, it was not really frightened, it took it as a game, the game of living. For in a moment a tiny sharp head was poking through the gold-brown feathers of the hen, and eyeing the Cosmos.

某个阳光明媚的日子，榛树旁大簇的樱草花盛放着，小径上星星点点地散布着紫罗兰。午饭过后，她再次来到鸡笼旁。一只小不点鸡宝宝正在缓缓学步，欢快地在笼前踱来踱去，而它的母亲则忧心忡忡，不断发出咯咯声。这只纤细的小鸡有灰褐色的羽毛，身上点缀着黑斑，在那个瞬间，它就是天底下最具活力的小生命。康妮蹲下身子，看得入了迷。生命，生命！纯洁无暇、充满生机、无所畏惧的新生命！新生命！如此瘦小纤细，但却丝毫不知畏惧！甚至当它听到母亲惊恐万分的尖叫声，蹦跳着仓促钻进笼中，藏身于妈妈的羽毛里，也并非因为心生畏惧，它只把这一切当做游戏，生存的游戏。因为，没过一会儿，那颗尖尖的小脑袋又从母亲金棕色的羽毛中探出来，打量着眼前的大千世界。

Connie was fascinated. And at the same time, never had she felt so acutely the agony of her