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For the Children's Hour |
by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey |
A choice collection of stories for the preschool child, carefully selected, adapted, and arranged by two veteran kindergarten teachers. Includes nature stories, holiday stories, fairy tales and fables, as well as stories of home life. Emphasis is placed on fanciful tales for their value in the training of the imagination and on cumulative tales for developing a child's sense of humor and appealing to his instinctive love of rhyme and jingle. Ages 4-7 | 464 pages |
$15.95 |
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THE LITTLE RED HEN
Retold by Harriet Peirce Dow from the Irish ballad of the "Little Red Hen."
ONCE upon a time, in a wee little house, there lived a
frog, a cat and a little red hen. The frog was such
[294] a lazy frog he would do no work. The cat was
such a lazy cat she would do no work; so the little red
hen had to do it all herself.
One morning she said: "Who will build the fire?"
"Not I," said the frog.
"Not I," said the cat.
"I will," said the little red hen, and she built a
bright fire.
"Who will make a cake for breakfast?" said the little
red hen.
"Not I," said the frog.
"Not I," said the cat.
"I will," said the little red hen, and she made a cake
for breakfast. When the cake was cooking by the fire
the little red hen said: "Who will lay the table for
breakfast?"
"Not I," said the frog.
"Not I," said the cat.
"I will," said the little red hen, and she laid the
table. She tried the cake with a broom straw, took it
from the fire, put it on a warm plate, and started to
carry it to the table. The lazy frog was already
sitting in his high chair, waiting for his breakfast.
The lazy cat was smoothing out her napkin, ready for
her breakfast. Then the little red hen stopped and
said: "Who will eat this cake?"
"I will," said the frog.
"I will," said the cat.
"You are not going to have a bit," said the little red
hen, and out the door she flew with the cake safely
tucked under her wing. On down the road she flew till
at last she came to a sunny pasture on a side hill.
"Here," she said, "I will eat my cake."
Away over the hills that morning Papa Fox was
[295] awake. All his family were awake, too, and teasing for
their breakfast. There was nothing in the little brown
pantry for Mamma Fox, or the baby foxes; so Papa Fox
started out to find something for them all.
On down the road he ran until he found a cool, dark
forest on a side hill close to a sunny pasture.
"Surely I will find something here," he said, but he
found no partridge or rabbit in the woods. As he came
to the pasture, he said: "Oh, I smell fresh cake!"
And then: "Oh, I smell a little red hen!" And there
was our little red hen eating her cake. Softly Papa
Fox stole up behind her, and grabbed her, and put her
into the bag on his back. Quickly Papa Fox ran off
down the hill.
Then the little red hen was so frightened she could
only whisper: "Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"
Just then she thought she should sneeze, and she put
her claw in her pocket for her handkerchief, and, in
pulling it out, she dropped her little scissors right
in her lap.
As fast as she could, she cut a little peek-hole in the
bag. Peeking out, she saw a great hill just ahead, all
covered with stones. As Papa Fox toiled slowly up the
hill she cut a big hole in the bag; out she jumped and
quickly put a big stone in the bag.
Straight up the hill went Papa Fox, and he thought the
bag was so heavy, but he said: "She is a fat little
red hen."
Mamma Fox met him at the front door. "Come in and put
our breakfast in the kettle," she said, "the water is
boiling."
So into the kettle Papa Fox emptied his bag, and down
into the water fell the great stone, splashing the
[296] water all over the kitchen, and if Papa Fox had
not jumped he would have been burned.
Then Papa Fox said: "What is that?" and he went back
and peeped in the kettle, and then how he laughed!
"What was that?" asked Mamma Fox, and she went over and
peered into the kettle, and, oh! how she laughed!
"What is that?" asked the little foxes, as they peeped
into the kettle, and then, oh! how they laughed!
"I am glad the little red hen got away," said Papa Fox
as he brought in some turnips for breakfast.
After the little red hen was out of the bag she kept
very quiet until the fox was over the hill and out of
sight. Then she ran, and she flew, as fast as she
could go, but it was night before she reached home. As
she flew into the garden she heard a deep voice say:
"Oh, I wish the little red hen would come back," and
that was the frog. Then she heard a soft voice say:
"Oh, I wish the little red hen would come back," and
that was the cat.
"Here I am!" said the little red hen.
"I won't be lazy any more," said the frog as he rubbed
against her little yellow leg.
"I won't be lazy any more," said the cat as she rubbed
against the little red hen's wing. And so the frog,
the cat and the little red hen all worked together in
the wee little house.
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