The Little Red Hen

I have always enjoyed the story of the Little Red Hen. There are several different versions of this story. In every version however, the Little Red Hen and the other animals learn something. Read the story below and we will discuss some lessons we learned at the end.

Little Red Hen found a grain of wheat.

“Who will plant this?” she asked.

“Not I,” said the cat.

“Not I,” said the goose.

“Not I,” said the rat.

“Then I will,” said Little Red Hen.

So she buried the wheat in the ground. After a while it grew up yellow and ripe.

“The wheat is ripe now,” said Little Red Hen. “Who will cut and thresh it?”

“Not I,” said the cat.

“Not I,” said the goose.

“Not I,” said the rat.

“Then I will,” said Little Red Hen.

So she cut it with her bill and threshed it with her wings. Then she asked, “Who will take this wheat to the mill?”

“Not I,” said the cat.

“Not I,” said the goose.

“Not I,” said the rat.

“Then I will,” said Little Red Hen.

So she took the wheat to the mill, where it was ground. Then she carried the flour home.

So she made and baked the bread.

Then she said, “Now we shall see who will eat this bread.”

“We will,” said cat, goose, and rat.

“I am quite sure you would,” said Little Red Hen, “if you could get it.”

Then she called her chicks, and they ate up all the bread. There was none left at all for the cat, or the goose, or the rat.

Little Red Hen Story

In other versions of the story the Little Red Hen shared with the farm animals and had compassion on them. The Little Red Hen in this version would only share with her chicks.

We could find several morals to the story. The one I want to talk about today is called "The Law of The Harvest." This law is simple, in order to eat something, you have to plant something. Right now, I am planting peas in my garden. My whole family helps. In June, when the peas are ripe, the whole family enjoys eating the peas and sharing them with others.

Do you think that the hen would have shared the bread if the animals helped her? I think so, but the animals choose to do nothing about the situation.

In other versions of the story, the animals were starving for food. Yet they still did not help the hen. You can sit around and be upset and depressed all that you want, but this behavior will not help you or your family. Like the Red Hen, we need to contribute to our fellow man. The hen possibly could have shared a small portion for each animal. This would be in hopes that next time the animals would help.

The animals had a way out of their situation, but choose to sit still and do nothing. They let life pass  them by and then it was to late. I hope that we can all be like the hen and not the other animals. Now here is a video if the "Little Red Hen."