A Story to Share: Chicken Little

 I wrote a version of the Chicken Little story. I hope you like it.


This is Chicken Little.  Gravity is having its way with him, but since he never studied gravity he needs another explanation. 

"The sky is falling!" he cries after he regains consciousness, dusts himself off and examines the huge knot on his head.

What do you do after realizing something so earth shattering?  Tell a friend!

Chicken Little runs as fast as his little legs can carry him to the chicken yard and finds Henny Penny scratching for worms.

"The sky is falling!" he cries.

Henny Penny, simple soul that she is, can't imaging a child would make up a story and concludes it must be true and panic sets in.

What to do now that they share this awful burden?  Tell a friend!

Together they run to the pond at the edge of the barn yard and find Ducky Lucky paddling lazily in the water.

"The sky is falling!" they cry.

As if a piece of sky had bounced off of his head, Ducky splashes about, shielding himself from the next aerial assault, because he has never know Henny Penny to tell him anything that wasn't true...  as far as he knows...

 What to do with this terrible information?  Tell a friend!

The threesome flutters in a mad dash to the far end of the pond in search of someone with wisdom, because they now realize just telling a friend will not save their heads.  Since no one else is around, Goosey Loosey will have to do.

"The sky is falling!" they cry.

With a honk she wakes from her nap in the sun and asks them to repeat themselves, rather annoyed by the interruption to her leisure.  "The sky is falling!" they cry.  The gravity of the situation sinks in and she lets out another honk.  "Oh what shall we do?" asks Henny Penny.

Goosey ruffles her feathers and curls her neck to think, though her brains, which are quite small, buzz about in her head like angry bees.  "We should..." she said, searching for some kind of answer, "go to... the king of the forest...what's his name?...the lion!" she declares, feeling quite confident in her notions.

What to do when someone comes up with a plan? Do it quickly before anyone has time to think it over and maybe second guess the whole thing!

The now foursome race to the edge of the field, certain the trees of the forest will shield them from the next portion of the sky to fall.  In a cloud of feathers they arrive and startle Turkey Lurkey as she is about to head home to her nest.

Being a wild bird, she usually has more sense than this rabble of domesticated fowl and from the forest undergrowth, calls out, "What's all the fuss and hub-bub?"

The silly birds cry out in one voice, "The sky is falling!" And they go on to relate how Chicken Little has had a piece of sky fall on his head and that all of them have narrowly missed being crushed by other large chunks of shattered blue.

Turkey Lurkey can't help being swept away by their story, convincing as it is and begins to suspect some of the sky has indeed fallen.  Goosey then asks, "Do you know where the king of the forest, the lion, lives?  We must tell him.  He will know what to do!"

With a shake of her head, she says she hadn't even realized there was a king, let along a lion who lives in the woods, but perhaps she ought to find out.  "Let's go find him," she proposes, desiring very much now to see how all this turns out.

What to do when you have no idea how to get where you need to go?  Ask for directions!

The little party of five now heedlessly moves through the shadowy forest, the domesticated fowl making all sorts of racket, which attracts one Foxy Loxy from the darkness of his den which lays hidden behind a stump.  Without a sound, he appears in the path of the frightened birds and asks with a tone of great concern, "What is the trouble friends?"

To this they all cry, "The sky is falling!"  and go on to tell of their quest to find the king of the forest, the great wise lion who will know what to do in this great emergency.

Foxy Loxy, strokes his chin to hide his smile.  He can't help but lick his chops and tries to make it look like a thoughtful gesture.  "Well," he says, "This is a terrible revelation and you are in luck for I know the way to the king's home!" and he bows deeply in a posture of service.

All the birds quack, chirp, squawk and honk in relief and they clamour to know the way.

"The way is secret, for the king is careful about who visits him, but since I am a dear friend, a duke in fact, I know the route.  This way, friends, into this tunnel.  We will arrive at our journey's end soon!"  Foxy assures through sharp gleaming teeth.

One by one the birds enter the hole, the very one Foxy Loxy emerged from moments before.  Foxy licks his chops again as he follows his dinner into his very own den.