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).