Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Little Red Chook - a disturbing tale


Hello everyone,
I didn't know the story of the little red hen (or chook, as we would call her in Oz), so I looked it up on Wikipedia.  I learnt that it was probably originally a Russian folktale, which was made into a Little Golden Book (did you have those when you were growing up?  I had a few - my favourite was The Kitten Who Thought He Was A Mouse).  The story is of a hardworking hen who sows wheat, harvests it, takes it to the mill, grinds it into flour, and makes bread ... while the do-nothing duck, dog and cat refuse to help until the bread is ready to eat.
I know the LRH is the heroine of this tale, but frankly, I was so much more attracted to the duck, the dog and the cat.  I suspect most children would be, too.
I also made the disturbing discovery that the Little Red Hen is the same shape as Tasmania, the island state of Australia, where I live:

5 comments:

Leen Christens said...

Oh, this is great the shades and light effects looks perfect! I really love it, this picture alone tells a short story!

Dayle's Painted Diary-Dayle Dodwell said...

I really appreciated your finding out about the red hen story as I wasn't familiar with it either. Cute illustration. Really funny about the map.

Vanessa Brantley Newton said...

What great insight and information. This is grand. I will keep this mind. Your illustration is magnificent. You never disappoint! Great work once again.
V

sruble said...

Your do nothing animal illustration is excellent! It's great that they're watching TV while the poor hen is out working.

The red hen the shape of Tasmania is my favorite though. I love the shape and colors (especially next to the map).

erin said...

this is so fun!