The Book of the Dun Cow

My friend Mike lent me this 1978 novel by Walter Wangerin Jr. It's a story of Chauntecleer and Pertelote (characters borrowed from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales). Chauntecleer is a rooster lord deeply in love with the Hen Pertelote; their happiness and realm comes under attack by an army of basilisks, their Cockatrice general, and the dread Wyrm that spawned them all in an attempt to break free of the earth which imprisons him.

The story is myth and reads well as such. It introduces our planet before it was our own, back in a time when animals ruled, but were innocent of the fact that their enjoyment of life was a seal that kept God's enemy, Wyrm, imprisoned beneath their feet. The story tells us how an adjoining kingdom fell and allowed Wyrm the foothold to strike at Chauntecleer's lands. Along the way we discover how Chauntecleer came to rule his roost, gain faith in his Creator and discover the providential companionship of the Dun Cow, which is God's messenger at this time on earth.

I found it a bit slow getting in, but it's not a long book and I was soon quite interested in discovering what would happen, also, as a morality tale, it touches on several issues such as pride, depression, courage and faith.