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Lead
in Literature
The
Little Red Hen
Reprinted with kind permission
from the HELEN OXENBURY Nursery Story Book Published
by William Heinemann Ltd, London, 1988
You may be asking why our Lead in Literature section features "The
Little Red Hen". You only have to read the second paragraph to
see the connection between the obvious lead sources in the young
fox's environment and his behaviour. Read it aloud to your children
- it's a well-told moral tale.
Once there was a pretty,
neat little house. Inside it lived a Cock, a Mouse and a Little Red
Hen.
On another hill, not far
away, was a very different little house. It had a door that wouldn't
shut, windows that were dirty and broken, and the paint was peeling
off. In this house lived a bad old mother Fox and her fierce young
son.
One morning the mother Fox said, "On the hill over there you can see the house where the
Cock, the Mouse and the Little Red Hen live. You and I haven't had
very much to eat for a long time, and everyone in that house is very
well fed and plump. They would make us a delicious dinner!"
The fierce young Fox was
very hungry, so he got up at once and said, "I'll just find a
sack. If you will get the big pot boiling, I'll go to that house on
the hill and we'll have that Cock, that Mouse and that Little Red
Hen for our dinner!"
Now on the very same morning the Little Red Hen got up early, as she always did, and went
downstairs to get the breakfast. The Cock and the Mouse, who were
lazy, did not come downstairs for some time.
"Who will get some sticks to light the fire?" asked the Little Red Hen. "I
won't," said the Cock. "I won't," said the Mouse.
"Then I'll have to do it myself,' said the Little Red Hen. So off she ran to get the
sticks.
When she had the fire burning, she said, " Who will go
and get the kettle filled with water from the spring?" "I
won't," said the Cock again. "I won't," said the
Mouse again.
"Then I'll have to do it myself," said the Little Red Hen, and off she ran to fill
the kettle.
While they were waiting for their breakfast, the Cock
and the Mouse curled up in comfortable armchairs. Soon they were
asleep again. It was just at this time that the fierce young Fox
came up the hill with his sack and peeped in at the window. He
stepped back and knocked loudly at the door.
"Who can that be?" said the Mouse, half opening his eyes. "Go and find
out, if you want to know," said the Cock crossly. "Perhaps
it's the postman," said the Mouse to himself. So, without
waiting to ask who it was, he lifted the latch and opened the door.
In rushed the big fierce Fox!
"Cock-a-doodle-do!" screamed the Cock as he jumped onto the back of the armchair.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" squeaked the Mouse as he tried to run up the
chimney.
But the Fox only laughed. He grabbed the Mouse by the tail and popped him into the sack. Then
he caught the Cock and pushed him in the sack too. Just at that
moment, in came the Little Red Hen, carrying the heavy kettle of
water from the spring. Before she knew what was happening, the Fox
quickly snatched her up and put her into the sack with the others.
Then he tied a string tightly around the opening. And, with the sack
over his shoulder, he set off down the hill.
The Cock, the Mouse and the Little Red Hen were bumped together uncomfortably inside the sack.
The Cock said, "Oh, I wish I hadn't been so cross!" And
the Mouse said, "Oh, I wish I hadn't been so lazy!" But
the Little Red Hen said, "It's never too late to try
again."
As the Fox trudged along with his heavy load, the sun
grew very hot. Soon, he put the sack on the ground and sat down to
rest. Before long he was fast asleep. Then, "Gr -- umph . . .
gr -- umph," he began to snore. The noise was so loud that the
Little Red Hen could hear him through the sack. At once she took her
scissors out of her apron pocket and cut a neat hole in the sack.
Then out jumped: first the Mouse, the Cock, and last, the Little Red
Hen.
"Quick! Quick!" she whispered. "Who will come and help me get some
stones?" "I will," said the Cock. "And I
will," said the Mouse. "Good," said the Little Red
Hen.
Off they went together and each one brought back as big a rock as he
could carry and put it into the sack. Then the Little Red Hen, who
had a needle and thread in her pocket too, sewed up the hole very
neatly.
When she had finished, the Little Red Hen, the Cock and the Mouse ran off
home as fast as they could go. Once inside, they bolted the door and
then helped each other to get the best breakfast they had ever had!
After some time, the Fox woke up. He lifted the sack onto his back and
went slowly up the hill to his house.
He called out, "Mother! Guess what I've got in my sack!"
"Is it - can it be - the Little Red Hen?" "It is -
and the Cock - and the Mouse as well.
They're very plump and heavy so they'll make us a splendid dinner."
His
mother had the water all ready, boiling furiously in a pot over the
fire. The Fox undid the string and emptied the sack straight into
the pot. Splash! Splash! Splash! In went the three heavy rocks and
out came the boiling hot water, all over the fierce young Fox and
his bad old mother. Oh, how sore and burned and angry they were!
Never again did those wicked foxes trouble the Cock, the Mouse and the
Little Red Hen, who always kept their door locked, and lived happily
ever after.
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