Chicken Little and the Freezing, Burning-Up World

(Today, we present a special fable suitable for kids—and grownups who should know better!)

Bob Cantu & Craig Strickland

Chicken Little wiped the sweat from his brow.

 It was late August, and very hot. Chicken Little decided that this must mean the world was burning up. He called it “Worldly Warming.” He knew this had to be someone’s fault, so he began imagining how the problem might be solved. Once he had an idea, he asked his friend, Owl, to spread word to all his friends on what they all must do.

 His idea (which he felt was a rather scientific notion) was for everyone to continually flap their wings and their tails and stomp their feet in order to cool off the ground. So Owl flew overhead, shrieking, “The world is warming! The world is warming!” He also told all that the virtuous thing to do was to flap and stomp so that Mother Earth might be saved.

 Without thinking twice, Duck, Goose and all the others heeded this wise-seeming proclamation. They flapped their wings and tails and stomped their feet nonstop for three months straight. By the end of November they were tired and weak, but the temperature had indeed gone from hot to cool. They all rejoiced, for they thought the problem solved. They called Chicken Little a genius.

 A few weeks later, Chicken Little found himself shivering.

 It was late December now, and very cold. Chicken Little decided the world was freezing up. At first he thought to call it “Worldly Wintering.” But then, suspecting that the heat in August must be insidiously connected with the cold in December, he cleverly renamed their problem “Worldly Warped Weather.”

 Once again Chicken Little knew this had to be someone’s fault, so he began imagining how this new, bigger problem might be solved.  As before, once he had an idea he asked his friend, Owl, to spread word to their friends on what they all must do.

 This time his idea (which he once again felt was a rather scientific notion) was that the hot and the cold must have something to do with the food which birds ate. So Owl flew overhead, shrieking, “The world is cooling! The world is cooling!” He also told all that the virtuous thing to do was to stop eating the foods that they usually ate so that Mother Earth might be saved.

 Without thinking twice, Duck, Goose and all the others heeded this wise-seeming proclamation, and called Chicken Little a genius. They stopped eating all their usual foods for three months straight.

 The only problem was that all of these birds were still weak from the flapping and foot-stomping, and the not-eating turned out not to agree with them. At the end, Chicken Little’s friends died, every one. 

 Now Chicken Little is sad and hungry, not to mention lonely. Most of all, however, he is afraid. He sits waiting, all alone, for that terrible day when the earth either catches on fire or freezes into a marble of ice. Maybe both will even happen at once—with “Worldly Warped Weather,” you never know.