Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 3:40
The Little Red Hen
Who will help plant the wheat? Not I, says the cat. Not I, says the dog. A funny bedtime retelling of the folk tale about doing your share.
Narrator
The Little Red Hen
The Cat
The Dog
The Duck
The ChicksOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Little Red Hen is an old folk tale, well known in America and England since the 19th century and a long-time favourite of early reading books. A hen finds a grain of wheat and asks her farmyard friends to help grow it into bread, but they always say Not I, until the bread is ready to eat. This version keeps the classic ending, then adds a gentle second spring in which everyone pitches in.
What it teaches
Those who share the work share the reward. It also shows that helping is never too late: the lazy friends learn their lesson and do better next time.
Suits
Ages 3–7
Tips for telling it
- Let your child say every Not I with the cat, the dog and the duck; the repetition is the fun.
- Count the steps from seed to loaf: plant, cut, thresh, mill, bake.
- Afterwards, ask what the cat, the dog and the duck could have said instead.
Questions people ask
- What is the moral of The Little Red Hen?
- If you won't help with the work, you can't expect to share the reward. It also celebrates hard work and doing a job yourself when nobody else will.
- Does the Little Red Hen share her bread?
- In the traditional story, no. She eats it with her chicks, because the others refused to help at every step. In this retelling the animals help the next year, and then everyone shares.
- Where does The Little Red Hen come from?
- It is a folk tale with no known author, told in America and England since the 19th century and printed in countless children's readers and picture books.
More Fairy tales
All Fairy tales episodes →Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz
声匠改编
A cyclone carries Dorothy and Toto to Oz, where a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman and a Cowardly Lion join her on the yellow brick road. Baum's 1900 book.
Pinocchio
声匠改编
A wooden puppet who won't listen meets a Talking Cricket, a sly Fox and Cat, a blue-haired Fairy and a sea monster, and earns the right to be a real boy.
Thumbelina
声匠改编
A girl no bigger than a thumb escapes a toad, winters with a field mouse, nearly weds a mole, and is rescued by a swallow. Andersen, retold for bedtime.
The Nightingale
声匠改编
An emperor trades a plain little songbird for a jewelled clockwork one, until the night only the real nightingale can save him. Andersen's tale, retold.
The Princess and the Pea
声匠改编
A soaking-wet girl at the gate says she's a princess. The queen has a test: one tiny pea under twenty mattresses. Andersen's classic, retold for bedtime.
The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats
声匠改编
Mother Goat warns her seven kids never to open the door, but the wolf has tricks: chalk for his voice and flour for his paws. A gentle Grimm retelling.
