Stand up for yourself Little Red Hen!

Just to vent, I really freaking despise it when people are only talking to you because they want something from you, they never invite you to do anything with them, or be an active friend to them, but as soon as they need something, who's suddenly being nice. SHOCKER! They want a favor!! God forbid you ever ask one in return, it's the story of Little Red Hen.

In case you do not know the story, let me refresh you:



Once upon a time there was a little red hen. She lived with a pig, a duck and a cat.


They all lived in a pretty little house which the little red hen liked to keep clean and tidy. The little red hen worked hard at her jobs all day. The others never helped. Although they said they meant to, they were all far too lazy. The pig liked to grunt in the mud outside, the duck used to swim in the pond all day, and the cat enjoyed lying in the sun, purring.


One day the little red hen was working in the garden when she found a grain of corn.


"Who will plant this grain of corn?" she asked.


"Not I," grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.


"Not I," quacked the duck from her pond.


"Not I," purred the cat from his place in the sun.


So the little red hen went to look for a nice bit of earth, scratched it with her feet and planted the grain of corn.



During the summer the grain of corn grew. First it grew into a tall green stalk, then it ripened in the sun until it had turned a lovely golden colour. The little red hen saw that the corn was ready for cutting.


"Who will help me cut the corn?" asked the little red hen.


"Not I," grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.


"Not I," quacked the duck from her pond.


"Not I," purred the cat from his place in the sun.


"Very well then, I will cut it myself," said the little red hen. Carefully she cut the stalk and took out all the grains of corn from the husks.


"Who will take the corn to the mill, so that it can be ground into flour?" asked the little red hen.


"Not I," grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.


"Not I," quacked the duck from her pond.


"Not I," purred the cat from his place in the sun.

So the little red hen took the corn to the mill herself, and asked the miller if he would be so kind as to grind it into flour.


In time the miller sent a little bag of flour down to the house where the little red hen lived with the pig and the duck and the cat.

"Who will help me to make the flour into bread?" asked the little red hen.


"Not I," grunted the pig from his muddy patch in the garden.


"Not I," quacked the duck from her pond.


"Not I," purred the cat from his place in the sun.


"Very well," said the little red hen. "I shall make the bread myself." She went into her neat little kitchen. She mixed the flour into dough. She kneaded the dough and put it into the oven to bake.


Soon there was a lovely smell of hot fresh bread. It filled all the corners of the house and wafted out into the garden. The pig came into the kitchen from his muddy patch in the garden, the duck came in from the pond and the cat left his place in the sun. When the little red hen opened the oven door the dough had risen up and had turned into the nicest, most delicious looking loaf of bread any of them had seen.


"Who is going to eat this bread?" asked the little red hen.


"I will," grunted the pig.


"I will," quacked the duck.


"I will," purred the cat.


"Oh no, you won't," said the little red hen. "I planted the seed, I cut the corn, I took it to the mill to be made into flour, and I made the bread, all by myself. I shall now eat the loaf all by myself."


The pig, the duck and the cat all stood and watched as the little red hen ate the loaf all by herself. It was delicious and she enjoyed it, right to the very last crumb.





You can plant, grow and sow your heart out, and the people who watched you do it, and never volunteer to help, even when asked, will suddenly want some, or to be buddy buddy.
I got no time for it. The correlation never slapped me around (like it did today) about the Little Red Hen story being relevant to my life until today. Don't get me wrong, I knew what it meant. I just never realized the irony. The same people though, that have done that to me, I have seen them do it to other people. It makes me sad. Don't be the fool that thinks this time it will be different. Don't think, surely they won't have the audacity to let me help then, and not help me AGAIN. They most certainly will! Stand up for yourself Little Red Hen!

The little red hen, also can be interpreted as:

In the tale, The Little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat, and asks for help from the other farmyard animals to plant it. However, no animal will volunteer to help her.

At each further stage (harvest, threshing, milling the wheat into flour, and baking the flour into bread), the hen again asks for help from the other animals, but again she gets no assistance.

Finally, the hen has completed her task, and asks who will help her eat the bread. This time, all the previous non-participants eagerly volunteer. However, she declines their help, stating that no one aided her in the preparation work, and eats it with her chicks, leaving none for anyone else.

The moral of this story is that those who show no willingness to contribute to an end product do not deserve to enjoy the end product: "if a man does not work, let him not eat."

Take the opportunity to teach your child this classic fable today and instill some morals into your children.

You can even use these worksheets and coloring pages!

Click here and print & find many here too at: schoolexpress!

Please comment if you want to discuss this type of thing!

Thank you!