Story Introduction

“The Little Red Hen” is a traditional American fable that was first

published in the late 19th century. This moral tale about the value of

effort and thriftiness contrasts the hard working attitude of a little red

hen with the indolent attitude of some of the other farm animals.

Dramatis Personae

Little Red Hen

Farmer Macdoodle

Mrs. Macdoodle

Little Lilly Macdoodle

Cow

Pig

Dog

Cat

Horse

Note

The animals on this list are not fixed. The lines of the farm animals are

repetitive, therefore you may take away or add other farm animals as

you please.

5

The Little Red Hen

小红母鸡

Scene 1 – In the Farmer’ s Kitchen

(Farmer Macdoodle sits in a chair and his wife brings him some water to drink. He is

sick. His granddaughter, Lilly, sits by his feet.)

Farmer Macdoodle: I must go to work. I have rested for two weeks! (As he

stands, he coughs.)

Mrs. Macdoodle: Mr. Macdoodle, as your wife, I order you to relax!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Yes, grandad, you are sick.

Farmer Macdoodle: Who will take care of my farm?

Mrs. Macdoodle: The farm can wait a few more days!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Maybe he is right, Nanna? There are many animals on the

farm.

Farmer Macdoodle: They need food. Their barns should be cleaned.

Mrs. Macdoodle: Maybe Lilly could help.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: I could, grandad! You and Nanna taught me how!

Farmer Macdoodle: Without me, the animals get lazy.

Mrs. Macdoodle: The pigs don’t wash.

Farmer Macdoodle: The cows don’t make milk.

Mrs. Macdoodle: The cats won’t catch the rats; the horse won’t pull the cart.

I know.

Farmer Macdoodle: The big problem is that we need to bake bread for the

market.

Mrs. Macdoodle: Your grandad can’t grow the crops to make the flour for the

bread!

Farmer Macdoodle: And the bread feeds the animals! They are all hungry now.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Don’t worry. I will make sure they all help.

Farmer Macdoodle: You are a good girl, Lilly.

Mrs. Macdoodle: I will take care of your grandad.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: And I will set the animals to work!

Performing Classic Western Stories

欧美经典英文戏剧

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Scene 2 – At the Farm

(The animals sit lazily on stage. They look bored and complain about being hungry.)

Pig: It has been 4 days since we saw Farmer Macdoodle.

Dog: He coughed a lot. Maybe he is sick?

Horse: His fields aren’t tended to. The farm is messy.

Cat: I don’t care. When he is away, I just relax. (He takes a big

stretch and yawns.)

Little Red Hen: I am worried. If we have no crops, then we have no flour

for the bread.

Pig: That means we will have no food!

All animals: Oh no!

(Enter Lilly.)

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Right everyone! It’s time for action!

All Animals: Hi Lilly!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Grandad is sick and Nanna will take care of him.

All Animals: What about us?

Little Lilly Macdoodle: We need to work together to grow the crops and bake the

bread!

Little Red Hen: Great! Let’s start! We can’t sit here any longer!

Pig: I am a little tired.

Dog: I too am a little tired.

Horse: I too am a little tired.

Cat: I too am a little tired.

Little Red Hen: Come on everyone! If we don’t do this, we will starve.

Pig: I’m OK. I can eat these scraps.

Dog: I’m OK. I can eat these bones.

Horse: I’m OK. I can eat this grass.

Cat: I’m OK. I can eat the rats.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: They are not as delicious as bread!

Little Red Hen: We must work together!

Pig: Actually Lilly, the problem is, when the farmer is away, we

are just…

7

The Little Red Hen

小红母鸡

All Animals: Too lazy. Sorry, we cannot help you.

Little Red Hen: Come on Lilly. We can do this ourselves!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Bye-bye everyone.

Scene 3 – In the Fields

(The animals assemble in a tableaux at one side of the stage. Lilly and Little Red Hen

congregate in the middle. Farmer Macdoodle and Mrs. Macdoodle sit together on the

opposite side to the animals.)

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Wowee this field is so big!

Little Red Hen: Now what should we do?

Little Lilly Macdoodle: I asked my grandad. He said…

Farmer Macdoodle: First you need to plant the seeds.

Mrs. Macdoodle: Give them lots of water and make sure that the insects stay

away!

Little Red Hen: There are so many seeds to plant!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: It’s a big job! We should ask the other animals to help us.

Little Red Hen: We can try.

(The animals remain in their tableaux, but when they are asked a question, they may

answer it.)

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Dear pig, please will you help us plant the seeds?

Pig: Sorry Lilly. I can’t be bothered!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Dear dog, please will you help us plant the seeds?

Dog: Sorry Lilly. I can’t be bothered!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Dear horse, please will you help us plant the seeds?

Horse: Sorry Lilly. I can’t be bothered!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Dear cat, please will you help us plant the seeds?

Cat: Sorry Lilly. I can’t be bothered!

Little Red Hen: It’s OK Lilly. We can do it ourselves!

(Farmer Macdoodle and Mrs. Macdoodle take the role of narrators.)

Farmer Macdoodle: So Lilly and the Little Red Hen set to work.

Mrs. Macdoodle: For three days they planted and watered the seeds.

Farmer Macdoodle: It wasn’t long before the tiny seeds had grown into tall

stalks of corn!

Performing Classic Western Stories

欧美经典英文戏剧

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(The PPT slide changes to reveal a field full of unharvested corn.)

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Wowee! Look at all of this corn!

Little Red Hen: We can make lots of flour from this!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: But now what do we do? I can’t ask grandad, he is sleeping.

Little Red Hen: I am not sure. We could ask the horse. He helps farmer

Macdoodle every year.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Yes. Let’s go!

Scene 4 – At the Farm

(The animals continue to lay around. They are still complaining about hunger and

boredom.)

Little Red Hen: Hey horse! We have a question.

Horse: I am too hungry to talk.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Could you help us tend to the corn?

Horse: It is too hard! It takes days!

Little Red Hen: Imagine if we all worked together!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: We would have bread to eat very quickly.

Pig: It’s too much hard work for me.

Dog: It’s too much hard work for me.

Cat: It’s too much hard work for me.

Horse: We can wait a little longer. I think the farmer is getting

better.

Little Red Hen: Come on Lilly. We can do this by ourselves!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: OK, Little Red Hen. Let’s go!

(Exit all.)

Scene 5 – In the Fields

(The girls walk in with large bags. They seem to be stuffed with stalks of corn.)

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Wowee this is a lot of corn!

Little Red Hen: It took us four days but finally we have collected it all!

9

The Little Red Hen

小红母鸡

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Grandad told me we should now grind the corn to make

the flour.

Little Red Hen: Grind the corn!? That will take a very long time!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Maybe we could ask the animals to help?

(One by one, the animals walk onto stage as they answer their question. Then they

stand in their tableaux position as before.)

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Dear Horse, please will you help us to grind the corn?

Horse: Sorry Lilly. I can’t be bothered!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Dear Pig, please will you help us to grind the corn?

Pig: Sorry Lilly. I can’t be bothered!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Dear dog, please will you help us to grind the corn?

Dog: Sorry Lilly. I can’t be bothered!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Dear cat, please will you help us to grind the corn?

Cat: Sorry Lilly. I can’t be bothered!

Little Red Hen: It’s OK Lilly. We can do it ourselves!

(Enter Farmer Macdoodle and Mrs. Macdoodle.)

Farmer Macdoodle: So Lilly and the Little Red Hen set to work.

Mrs. Macdoodle: For five days they ground the corn.

Farmer Macdoodle: It wasn’t long before the corn became large bags of flour!

(Exit Farmer Macdoodle and Mrs. Macdoodle.)

(The PPT slide changes to reveal a flour mill.)

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Wowee! Look at all of this flour!

Little Red Hen: We can make lots of bread from this!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: But we need to make the bread and bake the bread!

Little Red Hen: Do you know how, Lilly?

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Yes, because my nanna taught me. But I have to go to

school. I can help you when I return.

Little Red Hen: Don’t worry! I can do this. We can’t wait much longer. We

haven’t eaten a good meal in many weeks!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: OK. Maybe you can ask the animals?

Little Red Hen: I can try.

(Exit Lilly.)

(The animals remain in their tableaux, but when they are asked a question, they may

answer it.)

Little Red Hen: Dear pig, please will you help me make and bake the

bread?

Pig: Sorry Little Red Hen. I can’t be bothered!

Performing Classic Western Stories

欧美经典英文戏剧

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Little Red Hen: Dear dog, please will you help me make and bake the

bread?

Dog: Sorry Little Red Hen. I can’t be bothered!

Little Red Hen: Dear horse, please will you help me make and bake the

bread?

Horse: Sorry Little Red Hen. I can’t be bothered!

Little Red Hen: Dear cat, please will you help me make and bake the

bread?

Cat: Sorry Little Red Hen. I can’t be bothered!

Little Red Hen: You lazy animals! You are all so hungry yet you still won’t

help me!

Pig: We can wait a little longer. The farmer is much better now.

Little Red Hen: Fine!

(Exit all.)

(Enter Farmer Macdoodle and Mrs. Macdoodle.)

Farmer Macdoodle: So the Little Red Hen set to work.

Mrs. Macdoodle: For six days she made the dough and baked it.

Farmer Macdoodle: It wasn’t long before the flour became large loafs of very

tasty.

Mrs. Macdoodle: Very delicious!

Farmer Macdoodle &

Mrs. Macdoodle: Bread. Yummy!

(Farmer Macdoodle and Mrs. Macdoodle go to sit in their chairs. The animals remain

in their tableaux for the whole time until they speak.)

Scene 6 – In the Farmer’s Kitchen

(Enter Lilly and the Little Red Hen.)

Farmer Macdoodle: I feel much better after this rest!

Mrs. Macdoodle: That’s good to hear.

Little Red Hen: Come and see what I made, Lilly! What we made!

Little Lilly Macdoodle: Wowee, look at all of that bread!

Mrs. Macdoodle: Look at all of that mess!

Farmer Macdoodle: There is flour everywhere! But look at that bread!

11

The Little Red Hen

小红母鸡

Little Red Hen: You can all have a piece.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: We will never be able to sell all of this!

Mrs. Macdoodle: We need to ask for some help to eat it!

Little Red Hen: I have a plan. Let me just open this window so the smell

can travel.

(The little Red Hen pretends to open the window and shout out of it.)

Little Red Hen: Hello all! I have baked some delicious bread and we need

help to eat it!

(All of the animals unfreeze one by one.)

Pig: I can surely help you eat the bread!

Dog: I can surely help you eat the bread!

Horse: I can surely help you eat the bread!

Cat: I can surely help you eat the bread!

(They approach the Little Red Hen and reach for the bread but she pulls it away.)

Little Red Hen: Oh no, you don’t! Lilly and I worked very hard for this.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: You didn’t help us at all! Not even once.

Little Red Hen: If you don’t do the hard work, you don’t gain the rewards!

All Animals: You’re right. We are sorry!

Farmer Macdoodle: I know what they can do!

Mrs. Macdoodle: They can help you now. They can clean the kitchen!

Little Red Hen: Yes! If you clean this kitchen, then you can eat some

delicious bread!

All Animals: OK! Let’s go!

Farmer Macdoodle: So the animals set to work.

Mrs. Macdoodle: They cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.

Little Lilly Macdoodle: When they had finished, the kitchen was beautiful!

Little Red Hen: But most importantly the animals learned a lesson.

All: You must do the hard work to gain the best rewards!

END