Major thread creep (I think), but the subject of chickens did come up.

My wife Barbara -- a woman of infinite resource and sagacity -- works at the Seattle Public Library, and occasionally she works at the information desk. One day she was at the info desk when a chicken walked into the library and came up to her. It was a bit unusual, but Barbara was not at all taken aback, because a chicken is nowhere near the strangest thing to be found frequenting the library. The chicken looked at Barbara. Barbara looked at the chicken. The chicken said, "Book!" Barbara said, "Book?" The chicken responded, "Book!" So Barbara got up, went to a nearby shelf and took a book out at random, brought it back and placed it in front of the chicken. The chicken motioned meaningfully with one wing. Barbara placed the book under the chicken's wing. The chicken nodded, walked out of the library.

A little while later, the chicken came back in carrying the book under its wing, came up to Barbara, and dropped the book in front of her. Then, the chicken said, "Book!" Barbara picked up the book on the floor, re-shelved it, and brought the chicken another book and placed it under its wing. Once again, the chicken nodded and walked out of the library.

Still later, the chicken came back in. It dropped the book in front of Barbara, and this time it said, "Book! Book!" So Barbara picked up the book, re-shelved it, and brought the chicken two books, placing one under each wing. The chicken nodded and walked out of the library.

Normally, such things don't flummox Barbara in the least, but this time, her curiosity was really piqued. She called Clarice to take her place at the info desk and dashed out to surreptitiously follow the chicken. The chicken got on a bus. Barbara followed the chicken onto the bus, but since the bus was pretty crowded, she managed to stay out of sight, but keep track of where the chicken was. Finally, the chicken got off the bus out near Haller Lake, in Seattle's north end. Barbara followed the chicken down to a marshy area at the lakeshore, ducked behind a tree, and watched the chicken.

The chicken walked up to a frog and dropped the two books in front of it. The frog glanced at both books and said, "Read it! Read it!"

Don Firth (What planet am I on?)