My daughter has a book called The Little Red Hen. It's a familiar story: the Little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat and asks Duck, Goose, Cat and Pig to help her as she goes through the process of planting it, reaping it, taking it to the mill, making the dough, and baking the bread. At each turn she asks for help, and is refused help. "Not I", said the Duck, etc. Then when she pulls the bread out of the oven, she asks, "Who will help me eat the bread?" and of course the Duck, Goose, Cat and Pig all say they will. But she ends up eating the bread by herself because they didn't help her. So there.
So what exactly is the moral of the story? The Little Red Hen was asking for help with jobs that she clearly could accomplish by herself. Just how many farm animals does it take to plant one grain of wheat anyhow?
6 comments:
Ha! THAT is a good question. :D
Classic! You're so funny, Tammy! I've always wondered why she just didn't eat the original grain of wheat. Isn't that what chickens are always rooting around for on the ground anyhow??
Tammy, I know that story well but when I was young it was used to teach you- have to work to get what you want and there was a reward for helping a friend or neighbor. But that was in the dark ages.
hmmmmmm self sufficency, work ethic, you don't get something for nothing..seems to me this story needs to be retaught in our society today seeing as we have a bunch of people who seem to think they are entitled to the bread without doing a thing to earn it.
I always thought the moral of the story was that if you don't work you don't get the reward of the hard work. The "fruit of your hands" type aspect. However, it does leave out mercy and sharing :)
I guess I understand what the moral of the story is for the animals who won't work. But what bothers me is the "attitude" of the Little Red Hen! :-) Because who is she to make her fellow barnyard friends work on a project of her own making? LOL Surely the farmer feeds them all anyhow. ;-)
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