Week Thirteen: Storytelling

One day Henny Penny was minding her own business out in her yard gardening. Now, Henny Penny wasn't the brightest young hen in the village, but she had a good heart. While she was clucking to herself and planting new flowers for spring she felt something smack her in the head. She looked up towards the sky in amazement. Oh, no! She thought. The sky must be falling! Alarmed she immediately ran to go tell the King.

She ran so quickly she ran right into Cocky-locky. "Oh I'm sorry, Cocky-locky! I was just running to tell the King that the sky is falling," Henny Penny said. Cocky-locky became alarmed. "May I come with you?" he asked, "Of course!" Henny Penny replied. So the two of them set off to warn the King.

Not long after they set off they ran into Ducky-daddles. "Where are you doing so fast?" Ducky-daddles asked. "We are going to warn the King that the sky is falling!" replied Cocky-locky. "Oh, is it okay if I come with you as well? I would like to help," Ducky-daddles said. Cocky-locky and Henny Penny nodded and so Ducky-daddles followed them.

As they went along they ran into Turkey-lurkey. "Where are all of you going?" Turkey-lurkey asked. He was curious and bored. "We are going to tell the King that the sky is falling! Would you like to come with?" Ducky-daddles asked. "Why yes, I would love to!" Turkey-lurkey replied.

They went along and came upon Goosey-poosey. Goose-poosey asked them where they were going and asked to join. So together, Henny Penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky-daddles, Turkey-lurkey and Goosey-poosey set off to find the King.

Eventually they came upon Foxy-woxy. "Where is everyone going?" Foxy-loxy asked. "Well, we are going to find the King to tell him that the sky is falling," Henny Penny replied. Seeing his chance, Foxy-loxy created a plan to trick them all.

"But this is the wrong way to the King!" Foxy-loxy exclaimed, "Here, let me show you a shortcut." Foxy-loxy started in the direction of his cave. It was dark and narrow, with only room for one animal at a time to enter. "I will go first and then you can follow one by one," Foxy-loxy said.
Henny Penny
Feeling suspicious, Turkey-lurkey thought for a moment. I hope this isn't a trap… Foxy-loxy is known to be a trickster. Then he had an idea. Using a rope he died his ankle to Ducky-daddles' then to Goose-poosey's then to Cocky-locky's and finally to Henny Penny's.

"This way," he whispered, "If Foxy-loxy tries to pull anything I can pull my ankle and you can pull me out. We are all in this together." Everyone else nodded as Turkey-lurkey ventured into the cave.

Just as they suspected, when Turkey-lurkey had gotten safely inside, Foxy-loxy tried to take a bite of him. Turkey-lurkey goobled loudly and the rest took his cue. Using their combined strength they pulled Turkey-lurkey out of the cave safely and ran away before Foxy-loxy could figure out what happened.

(Source by John D. Batten)

Author's Note. I kept most of this story the same as the original, except for the ending. In the original ending Foxy-loxy gets to eat all of the animals except Henny Penny. I didn't like that ending very much, so I thought I would have the animals be more resourceful and clever. The fox has tricked almost all the animals in the stories I read so I thought it would be better if the animals could get back at him.

Bibliography. Henny Penny in English Fairytales Unit by Joseph Jacobs (1890).

Week Thirteen: Essay

Tricksters and Fools

I noticed in this unit that many of the fools are foxes. Foxes are known for being sly, clever and tricksters. I think this is really apparent in this series of stories. For example in Johnny-Cake, a cake rolls (not sure how…) and outruns a series of characters. As he comes upon each character he brags about how he has outrun a father, mother, son, two well diggers, two ditch diggers and a bear. When Johnny Cake comes upon a fox he yells out his same taunt, saying he's outrun all these other people and the fox replies that he couldn't hear Johnny Cake properly. As Johnny Cake gets closer and closer, repeating his phrase, the fox finally eats him up.

(Source by John D. Batten)

In Henny-Penny, the hen, goose, duck, rooster and turkey are all tricked by the fox. They are all trying to see the king to warn him that the sky is falling. When the fox hears of their mission he promises to lead them to the king. He says that he has a shortcut through his cave. Each animal is tricked by the fox and killed, with only the hen surviving. I think both of these stories really tell a lot about how foxes are seen in many cultures. Known for being cunning and sly, in many stories I've read they trick and fool other characters.

In general, the tricksters use their tricks to eat other characters. The other characters, or the "fools" are easily convinced and gullible. They follow the fox's instruction and influence quickly, making it almost too easy for the fox to trick them. You'd think that after all these stories the animals might learn from their mistakes!

Bibliography. English Fairytales Unit by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

Week Thirteen: Reading Diary

Part A: I read English Fairytale Units (1) this week. I enjoyed it and found the stories interesting. One in Part A that was particularly interesting was Mouse and Mouser. In the story, a cat and a mouse share a dialogue about how the mouse finds a silver sixpence and uses it to go to the market and buy a pudding (which is actually meat). In the story the mouse leaves the pudding in the window to cool and in the end the cat pounces on the mouse to eat him. I thought it was really interesting because of the writing style it was written in. It's a lot like a rhyme they chant back and force, reusing the term "good body, good body." It really gave a different style and overall feel to the story.

Part B: I really enjoyed reading Henny Penny in this section. The story is about a bunch of animals (with goofy names) that all go to tell the king that the sky is falling. A hen, rooster, turkey, goose and duck all fall trap to the fox, who convinces them that there is a shortcut to the king through his cave. When the rooster, turkey, goose and duck enter he quickly kills them. The hen escapes only because the rooster calls out after only being injured but not killed. I vaguely remember reading this story as a child.