The Little Red Hen

The hen then harvests and mills the wheat into flour before baking it into bread; at each stage she again asks the animals for help, but they still refuse.

This time the animals eagerly accept, but the hen refuses, stating that no one helped her with her work and decides to eat the bread herself.

The Little Red Hen says that next time she will be happy to make enough bread for herself, her chicks, and all her farmyard animal friends if they help her.

Adaptations throughout the 1880s incorporated appealing illustrations in order to hold the reader's attention as interest became more relevant to reading lessons.

An operatic adaptation of the story by Elena Doria Winell, in which the Hen has a mad scene at the end, premiered in Baltimore in 2024.

[2] Politically themed revisions of the story include a conservative version based on a 1976 monologue from Ronald Reagan.

A version by Malvina Reynolds adapts the story into a pro-work socialist anthem as the hen retains the fruits of her labor, saying "And that's why they called her Red".

A simple line drawing with a hen surrounded by chicks on the left and a laughing cat with a frilly collar on the right. The text "The Little Red Hen" is in the center in red.
The Little Red Hen, 1918 title page
An illustrated hen wearing a shirt and hat uses a shovel to dig a hole. Golden Book version book cover
An illustrated red hen stands in front of a fence, holds an umbrella, and leans to the left.
The Little Red Hen , illustrated by Florence White Williams