Petook is happy because he has just become the proud father of twelve chickens. But when he hears that a stranger has been seen in the vineyard near his wife Martha and her brood, Petook flies to their side. "When he got to Martha he knew that he need not have been afraid. It is true that there was a boy there, but this boy was kneeling by the little brown hen with a look of wonder on his face..."

Years go by...and Petook has grown old. Again, Martha is sitting on a nest of new eggs. While Petook waits for the chickens to be born, he sees three tall crosses on a distant hill. And a body being lifted—the body of the boy who years before visited Martha and her chicks, and later was heard to say: "Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you under my wings as the hen gathers her chicks, and you would not."

Renowned religious writer Caryll Houselander has subtly conveyed the Easter message of "new life" in a beautiful story.

From the dust jacket