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Henny-Penny

A tale retold from English Fairy Tales, collected by Joseph Jacobs

This is a traditional English cautionary tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in the late nineteenth century. The story appears in many cultures with different names—Chicken Little, Chicken Licken—but the lesson remains the same: think carefully before you panic, and be cautious about whom you trust. The repetition and rhyming names make it memorable for young listeners, while the clever fox and the narrow escape teach an important lesson about strangers and danger. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5

Length

short · about 307 words in 4 sections · 4 pictures

Source

English Fairy Tales, Joseph Jacobs

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

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