Plot summary
The story begins with Mitchell reminiscing about the first time a cousin noticed that Bill the rooster was a ventriloquist. Not even Bill himself recognised his own peculiar skill, and he always "thought it was another rooster challenging him, and he wanted badly to find that other bird." When Mitchell's neighbour, an Irishman named Page, brings home a big white rooster, the two birds become involved in a vicious cock-fight. Though Bill emerges victorious, Page announces that it was "a grand foight" and bears no malice, yet he is then constantly on the lookout for a fighting-cock that may topple Bill.
Page borrows an experienced game-bird from town. Page and Mitchell's father agree on a fight, and Mitchell is forbidden to attend. Mitchell scales a tree and watches the fight unfold over a fence. Jim, the more experienced bird, runs Bill in circles for a whole hour until the large rooster can no longer move. Jim then gives Bill a "father of a hiding." Bill, his pride completely shattered after a defeat, is “so disgusted with himself that he [goes] under the cask and die[s].”
A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term "cock of the game" used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607. But it was during Magellan's voyage of discovery of the Philippines in 1521 when modern cockfighting was first witnessed and documented for Westerners by the Italian Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, in the Kingdom of Taytay.
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is an act of stagecraft in which a person creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop, known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing, and the ability to do so is commonly called in English the ability to "throw" one's voice.
The "Town Musicians of Bremen" is a popular German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1819.
Enn Reitel is a Scottish actor who specializes in voice work. He is known for his voice-over work in video games, movies and TV shows. He is also known for providing additional voices for The Getaway: Black Monday, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, The Secret World and Star Wars: The Old Republic – Rise of the Hutt Cartel.
Bane is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, and Graham Nolan, he made his debut in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1. Bane is usually depicted as a dangerous adversary of the superhero Batman and belongs to the collective of enemies that make up the Batman rogues gallery. Possessing a mix of brute strength and exceptional intelligence, Bane is often credited as the only villain to have "broken the bat"; defeating him both physically and mentally. He is a son of another of Batman's enemies, King Snake.
Alectryomancy is a form of divination in which the diviner observes a bird, several birds, or most preferably a white rooster or cockerel pecking at grain that the diviner has scattered on the ground. It was the responsibility of the pullularius to feed and keep the birds used. The observer may place grain in the shape of letters and thus discern a divinatory revelation by noting which letters the birds peck at, or the diviner may just interpret the pattern left by the birds' pecking in randomly scattered grain.
The Ventriloquist is the name of multiple supervillains appearing in comic books and other media published by DC Comics. All of the Ventriloquist's versions are enemies of Batman, belonging to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues gallery.
Spy Smasher is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comics published by Fawcett and DC Comics. The first is a superhero that was formerly owned and published by Fawcett Comics. The second is a female anti-terrorism government agent, often featured as an antagonist of the vigilante team Birds of Prey.
The Rising is the first book in a series of zombie-themed horror novels written by author Brian Keene. This title won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2003. The Rising was optioned for both film and video game adaptation in 2004.
Bloody Jack, fully titled Bloody Jack: Being An Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship's Boy is a historical novel by L.A. Meyer. It is centered on an orphaned girl in London in the early 19th century. The story is continued in Curse of the Blue Tattoo, Under the Jolly Roger, In the Belly of the Bloodhound, Mississippi Jack, My Bonny Light Horseman, Rapture of the Deep, The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, The Mark of the Golden Dragon, Viva Jacquelina!, Boston Jacky, and Wild Rover No More.
The Foghorn Leghorn is a 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The cartoon was released on October 9, 1948, and features Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk and the Barnyard Dawg.
Ciung Wanara is a legend among Sundanese people, Indonesia. The folklore tell the legend of Sunda Galuh kingdom, the origin of Pamali River's name as well as describe the cultural ties between Sundanese and Javanese living in western part of Central Java province.
George P. Dog is a Looney Tunes character. An adult anthropomorphic basset hound, he is the archenemy of Foghorn Leghorn. He was created by Robert McKimson, who also created Foghorn, and was voiced by Mel Blanc. Dawg also feuds with other enemies as well like Henery Hawk, Daffy Duck and Sylvester. He appeared in 22 Golden Age–era Warner Bros. shorts.
Samurai Jack, sometimes addressed as The Samurai or simply Jack, is a sobriquet adopted by the title character of the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim animated television series Samurai Jack. He is voiced by Phil LaMarr and was created by Genndy Tartakovsky. Introduced as a Japanese prince raised since youth as a samurai warrior under numerous teachers in a variety of skills to destroy the demon Aku with his divinely crafted sword; seconds before he can kill Aku, he is sent eons into the future by Aku to where Aku's future self rules all of Earth unopposed; adopting the alias "Jack", Jack makes it his mission to find a way back to his time and prevent Aku's apocalyptic dystopia.
A hippalectryon or hippalektryon, is a type of fantastic hybrid creature of Ancient Greek folklore, half-horse (front) and half-rooster (hind), including the tail, wings and hind legs. Its colour varies between yellow and reddish. No myths related to it are currently known.
Chantecler is a verse play in four acts written by Edmond Rostand. The play is notable in that all the characters are farmyard animals including the main protagonist, a chanticleer, or rooster. The play centers on the theme of idealism and spiritual sincerity, as contrasted with cynicism and artificiality. Much of the play satirizes modernist artistic doctrines from Rostand's romanticist perspective.
Cock o' the Walk is a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film. It was released in 1935.
Suteuphaa was the second king of Ahom kingdom who ruled from 1268 CE to 1281 CE. Suteuphaa succeeded his father Sukaphaa, who laid the foundation of Ahom kingdom in Assam. His reign was characterized by the expansion of his father’s kingdom. He also had conflicts with the Shans or Naras of Mungkang, a Shan kingdom in Upper Burma.
Saltbush Bill's Gamecock is a humorous poem by Australian writer and poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson. It was first published in Brooks's Australian Xmas Annual Volume 1 1898.
There are numerous cultural references to chickens, in myth, folklore and religion, in language and in literature.
