Brazilian fable

Brazilian fable

 Fables are often told to children, who enjoy the predictability of rhyming couplets and a repeated refrain. This poem retells the Brazilian fable of how the hen got its speckles.

A silly white hen once found
A scrap of paper on the ground
She put it in her basket.  "I shall bring
This important letter to the king."

On her way she found her friend the fox
Who once she'd rescued from a box.
"Little white hen,  where are you going?"
"I'm taking this letter to the king."

He jumped into the basket with the letter
Until they found her friend the river
"Little white hen,  where are you going?"
"I'm taking this letter to the king."

Into her basket then jumped the river
Until they met her friend the fire
"Little white hen,  where are you going?"
"I'm taking this letter to the king."

But, what a fright she had at the palace!
The paper was wet,  and covered with ashes!
The king was angry,  flew into a rage
That the hen presented him with a dirty page!

He threw the hen in his poultry yard
The basket upturned,  it fell so hard,
Out sprang the fox and ate the fowls
In a twinkling of an eye,  amid fierce growls.

The royal household chased the hen
They were hot on her heels,  but just then
Out sprang the river, and wetted their toes
They couldn't reach her without their canoes.

On she ran,  and was close to the forest,
When out of breath she stopped to rest.
The fire turned to ashes, not even a spark
Showed where she was,  hidden in the dark.

But the fire had jumped from the basket so sudden
That ash had rained down on the little white hen.
And this is why to this very day,
Little white hens are speckled this way.



© Copyright 2018. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved.


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