THE CHICKEN LITTLE CHRONICLES:
THE ERUDITE EDITION
Click each underlined word
in the story to find the definition
or click on word list.
CHICKEN LITTLE’S ACORN FIASCO
I realize you’re trying to study each day,
Accumulate words, and then have an array.
So when you are tested to see what you know,
The words will spill out in a strong steady flow.
Now here is a story, you've heard it before,
It’s part of tradition, of long ago lore.
And if you’re confused ‘bout the words in the text,
Just click on the words, definitions come next.
Chicken Little, a somewhat fatuous and forgetful creature was feeling quite sanguine one lovely autumn day and decided to take a leisurely stroll through the resplendently colorful wood. Suddenly, an acorn fell from a sturdy old oak and tapped the oblivious Ms. Little on the head. Her ensuing reaction was completely devoid of any rational contemplation thus precluding the maintenance of any sort of an equanimous composure that would be appropriate for the situation.
Without any investigation as to the source of the unfortunate little knock, Chicken Little jumped to an erroneous presumption: "Indubitably," she shouted, "the sky is falling."
With this conclusion firmly in mind, Chicken Little continued to screech in a most agitated manner ," Oh grieving Ceasar ! It is incumbent upon me to relate this gravely inauspicious incident to our omniscient, sagacious sovereign as expeditiously as chickenly possible.”
So off she went, never giving a moment of time to ponder what this noble monarch, once informed, would or could do about it.
Along the route, Chicken Little accosted her rather frenzied and gullible friend and neighbor, Henny Penny. Chicken Little prevailed upon her naive chum to accept her account of this unpropitious incident. Henny Penny became hysterical about the situation and agreed to join forces with the tendentious Chicken; the two comrades then hastily set off for the royal abode. During their journey, they met up with other equally credulous poultry who frenetically promulgated in stentorian vocal pronouncements that several voices must be more persuasive on royal ears than two, so onward they all proceeded.
Unfortunately, the group encountered the mendacious Foxy Loxy who declared that their exigent mission was most pressing, that time was of the essence,and that there was a quicker path to the palace which she alone could locate. This seemingly cogent assertion was , of course, a perfidious, noisome, repugnant lie. The shortcut led the witless troop to Foxy Loxy’s lair where her nefarious offspring were ravenously awaiting their nocturnal repast. The ominous situation appeared to be dire indeed for Chicken Little and her hapless companions, and their deplorable demise seemed to be woefully imminent.
Fortuitously, a woodsman chanced to be passing by and overheard Foxy Loxy’s pugnacious pups sparring over who would devour which captive and in which order. With ax in hand, the woodsman invaded the fox's den and after ascertaining the nature of the odious, iniquitous predicament said most vehemently, though eloquently“Hark, an injustice is about to be perpetrated. It just won’t do, you know!”
The disconcerted, ignominious fox and her consternated brood hastily departed, thus liberating their heretofore disconsolate victims from an abominable fate. The magnanimous woodsman then volunteered to escort the entire fowl assemblage safely back to their domiciles.
On the way, they passed the very tree where something ( thought of by Chicken Little as the "sky") presumably descended, thus landing upon Chicken Little’s 'noggin.' Suddenly, Henny Penny espied from a small distance, one small and rather innocuous acorn. She walked over to pick it up . Being what she considered herself to be an astute mathematician,she put 2 and 2 together then haughtily declared,
“See here , Chicken Little, this is what landed on the cranium which contains your addled brain . And you said the sky was falling!!!!
HUMPH!!!
Nobody could possibly believe such an imbecilic, fatuitous, ludicrous, absurd, preposterous, daft, moronic, ridiculous and inanely conceived notion! "
MORAL:
The next time an acorn falls on your head, LOOK TO SEE WHAT IT IS. Do not, under any circumstances, tell your President, Prime Minister, CEO, immediate supervisor, journalist, copyright examiner, and/or any preoccupied neighbor/person in the street/co-worker, family member/friend etc. THAT THE SKY IS FALLING BECAUSE IT’S NOT, (unless , of course, you are in a fog!)
And so, there it is, you can see very clear,
For C.L. and friends, their demise came too near.
The despicable Fox and each ravenous pup,
Decided, on poultry, that evening they’d sup.
That’s why, Chicken Little, and all of her friends,
It’s only by luck they did not reach bad ends.
So what can you learn from their awful ordeal??
USE YOUR BRAIN, THINK AHEAD, OR BE TROUBLE’S NEXT
MEAL!
