Facebook: the story of the 'dead or alive chicken' participated in English competition and went viral

When Pedro Castillo was running for president of the Republic, one of his public presentations became quite well known for a story he told. It was the story of a boy carrying a chicken and seeking to deceive his teacher.

However, because of the way Castillo told it, it sounded quite confusing: “One time, one afternoon he was carrying a child, a chicken on his back and the chicken, the teacher didn't know what he was carrying and wanted to ask the teacher and he said, “I wanted to make them fall and ask him if he was alive or dead.”

“If he was dead, he would teach him the chicken alive, but if he was alive, sorry, if he was dead, the boy, the teacher surrenders, the child delivered him alive, but if he told him that he was alive he would twist the chicken's neck and show him the dead chicken,” the president told him in a confusing story.

It was actually referring to a story that originated in Greece:

One day a teenager, talking to a friend, said:

- I think I know how to deceive the wise man. I'm going to take him a bird that I'll hold in his hand, and I'll ask him if he's dead or alive. If he says he is alive, I will squeeze him and once he is dead I will let him fall to the ground; if he says he is dead I will open my hand and let him fly.

The young man came to the wise man and asked him the question:

- Sage, is the bird in my hand alive or dead?

The wise man looked at the young man and said:

- Boy, the answer is in your hands.

The truth is that this story has gone quite viral. That is why the use of this story in an English competition drew attention. It happens that the IPCNA institute launched a contest through Facebook where it invited its followers to write a free topic story that has between 250 and 300 words and is written in English. They called it Writing Challenge and it generated quite a lot of interaction on their social networks.

The funny thing is that users took the contest with humor. Many were encouraged to translate well-known stories into Spanish. One of them was encouraged to translate the story of Castillo:

“Once one afternoon a child was carrying a chicken on his back, the chicken the teacher did not know what he was carrying, and he wanted to ask the teacher and told him he wanted to make him believe and told him, ask him if he was alive or dead. If he was dead, he would show him the chicken alive, but if he was alive, excuse me, if he was dead, if the teacher told him that the child was dead, the teacher gave him... the child gave him alive, but if he told him that he was dead, the boy was alive. he twisted the neck of the chicken he showed him the dead chicken he didn’t know what to do. Neither he nor the child was with that trap to make the teacher and the child asks the teacher says teacher teacher tell me the chicken I have in my hands is it alive or dead”, comentó. El comentario logró varios likes, pero fue a través de WhatsApp que logró viralizarse.