''The Little Red Hen'' is an American

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...

first collected by

Mary Mapes Dodge Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge (January 26, 1831 – August 21, 1905) was an American children's author and editor, best known for her novel ''Hans Brinker''. She was the recognized leader in juvenile literature for almost a third of the nineteenth ...

in '' St. Nicholas Magazine'' in 1874. The story is meant to teach children the importance of

hard work Diligence—carefulness and persistent effort or work—is one of the seven heavenly virtues. It is indicative of a work ethic, the belief that work is good in itself. In students Bernard et al. suggest that diligence in students is define ...

and

personal initiative Personal initiative (PI) is self-starting and proactive behavior that overcomes barriers to achieve a goal. The concept was developed by Michael Frese and coworkers in the 1990s . The three facets of PI – self-starting, future oriented, and o ...

The story

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...

living on a farm finds some wheat and decides to make bread with it. She asks the other farmyard animals to help her plant it, but they refuse. The hen then harvests and mills the wheat into flour before baking it into bread; at each stage she again asks the animals for help and they refuse. Finally, with her task complete, the hen asks who will help her eat the bread. This time the animals accept eagerly, but the hen refuses them stating that no one helped her with her work and decides to eat the bread herself. She then runs away with it.

Background and adaptations

The tale is based on a story Dodge's mother often told her. Originally the other animals besides the hen consist of a rat, a cow, a cat, a dog, a duck, and a pig. Later adaptations often reduce the number of other animals to three. The story was likely intended as a literature primer for young readers, but departed from highly moralistic, often religious stories written for the same purpose. Adaptations throughout the 1880s incorporated appealing illustrations in order to hold the reader's attention as interest became more relevant to reading lessons. Repetitive vocabulary is still used in adaptations in order to encourage learning for very early readers. A 2006 picture book adaptation by

Jerry Pinkney Jerry Pinkney (December 22, 1939 – October 20, 2021) was an American illustrator and writer of children's literature. Pinkney illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works addresse ...

was well-received for similar reasons. An animated adaptation of the story titled ''

The Wise Little Hen ''The Wise Little Hen'' is a 1934 Walt Disney's ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon, based on the fable ''The Little Red Hen''. The cartoon features the debut of Donald Duck, dancing to the Sailor's Hornpipe. Donald and his friend Peter Pig try to avoid ...

'' was produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

in 1934. It is notable for the first appearance of

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

as one of the lazy animals who refuses to help the hen.

Revisions

Politically themed revisions of the story include a conservative version based on a 1976 monologue from

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. This version features a farmer who claims that the hen is being unfair by refusing to share the bread and forcing her to do so, removing the hen's incentive to work and causing poverty to befall the farm. Another version satirizes capitalism by depicting the hen promising the animals slices of bread if they make it, but keeping the largest slice for herself despite not doing any work. A version by

Malvina Reynolds Malvina Reynolds (August 23, 1900 – March 17, 1978) was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist, best known for her songwriting, particularly the songs "Little Boxes", "What Have They Done to the Rain" and "Morningtown ...

adapts the story into a pro-work

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

anthem as the hen retains the fruits of her labor, saying "And that's why they called her Red". In some versions it's her children who help her and after she refuses to share with the other animals they promise to help from now on. An episode of the animated series '' Super Why!'' features a revision of the story. In the episode, the Super Readers change the ending so that the hen tells the animals why she needs their help and they listen, enabling them to help her finish the cornbread so that she shares it with them.

References

External links

''The Little Red Hen: An Old English Folk Tale''
, Retold and Illustrated by Florence White Williams,

Saalfield Publishing Company The Saalfield Publishing Company published children's books and other products from 1900 to 1977. It was once one of the largest publishers of children's materials in the world. The company was founded in 1900 in Akron, Ohio, by Arthur J. Saalfi ...

, 1918, available from

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Red Hen, The Fables Animal tales Works of unknown authorship Fictional chickens Little Golden Books American picture books Literary characters introduced in 1874

The story

Background and adaptations

Revisions

See also

References

External links