1. The thin hen Gallina secca
European Comenius Project “YOUR CULTURE AND TRADITIONS
HELP ME TO APPRECIATE MINE”
The thin hen Gallina secca
Istituto Comprensivo Rignano - Incisa classes 5 A/B - Rignano sull’Arno Primary school

2. In a farm on the plain lived a very, very thin hen.

3. All the other hens pecked, laid eggs and had chicks, but she didn’t do anything.   She just stayed thin.

4. The farmer’s wife was thinking of wringing the hen’s neck
The farmer’s wife was thinking of wringing the hen’s neck. The hen realized this and said: “Dear mistress, let me go to the mountains where there is clean air,  lots of berries, chestnuts, acorns… Up there I will get fat”.

5. “You can go, but at the foot of the mountain you will surely meet the fox! What do you think you can do, then?”

6. “I know what I will do.”

7. The hen left the farm.

8. When she arrived at the foot of the mountain a fox loomed out of the wood. “What a beautiful hen!” said the fox.

9. “Dear fox, look at how lean I am
“Dear fox, look at how lean I am! If you eat me now, you will eat nothing! Think about that! Let me go up the mountain, and in autumn, I will come back fat and with many chicks.” The fox answered: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but you are really very lean, so you can go. I will wait for you in autumn”.   

10. So our hen reached the mountain.

11. Immediately she found a nice place to make her nest
Immediately she found a nice place to make her nest. She pecked and scratched, she flapped and flew around and…

12. …she got fatter…
…and fatter

13. She laid 12 eggs.

14. And when it was time 12 little rooster chicks came out.

15. Summer was coming to an end, autumn was arriving, and the hen lined up her chicks and led them down to the plain, singing at the top of their lungs.

16. Halfway down she stopped and led her little roosters into a millet (foxtail millet) field. She put an ear of millet in every beak, except the littlest chick that was at the end of the line.

17. With the ears in their beaks, the chicks were silent
With the ears in their beaks, the chicks were silent. But when they arrived at the end of the descent, the fox appeared and said: “Brava! Very good! You are a hen who keeps her word.”

18. “Here are the chicks I promised you, but I want to warn you - they were born in the mountains and they are very wild. Be careful when you go near them:  along the way we met some other foxes, but they were not very happy after the meeting.”
“Okay, okay – said the fox – but can you tell me what they have in their beaks?”

19. “They have the tails of the foxes that we met along the road!” “Really? And why doesn’t the little one have any tail in his beak?” “Because – answered  the hen – he is waiting for yours!” Then the fox ran as far away as she could, and the hen and her chicks, safe and sound, went back to the farm.