Once upon a time, there was a little chicken called ‘Chicken Licken’. One day an acorn fell from a tree and hit Chicken Licken on the head. Chicken Licken thought the sky was falling down. So he ran off to tell the king.
On the way Chicken Licken met Henny Penny, then Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Drakey Lakey, Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey. Each one in turn joined Chicken Licken in his anxious race to tell the king that the sky was falling down. None of them bothered to ask critical questions of Chicken Licken. Chicken Licken’s story was so dramatic, so serious, so believable that they simply bought the whole thing – hook, line and sinker.
By the time they met Foxy Loxy, so absorbed were they by the myth into which they had bought, that there wasn’t even a moment’s critical reflection whether it was entirely wise to trust a fox. Like all good children’s fables, it ends in a horrible bloodbath.
English