Stone
The stone woman gives birth in the middle of the night. Attributed to Dongshan (Tung-shan) The mother of the Xia was Tushanshi, the Lady of Mount Tu. One day she turned herself to stone, and the stone split open to give birth to a child whose name was Revelation. Joan Sutherland Four hens go broody at the same time – mesmerised, they settle into their chosen spots and sit – two in the henhouse, one in the hayshed, one deep in a patch of tradescantia under the pear tree. We bring in some eggs from a different flock – araucanas (blue shells!), australorps, barnevelders – and J puts four under each hen. They bring out ten chickens between them – some eggs are infertile, some chicks don’t make it out of the s