World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
The Little Red Hen
小红母鸡
The Little Red Hen (小红母鸡, Xiǎo hóng mǔjī) is a set of fables, retold in simple Mandarin as 3 short stories with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
A retelling of the English folk tale: a hard-working hen plants, cuts, grinds and bakes, while her lazy friends keep saying no. Simple, repeating Chinese for beginners.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — The warm storyteller of the farmyard.
- Little Red Hen · 小红母鸡 — A kind, hard-working hen who does the work herself.
- Duck · 鸭子 — A lazy duck who would rather go swimming.
- Cat · 小猫 — A sleepy cat with a creative excuse.
- Dog · 小狗 — A cheerful dog who only cares about ball and food.
- Chick · 小鸡 — The hen's tiny, eager helper.
3 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: One Small Grain
一粒小麦
A little hen finds one grain of wheat and asks her friends to help plant it. Everyone says no. Will she do it alone?
Free to read
Chapter 2: The Golden Wheat
金黄的小麦
The wheat is ripe, but the friends still will not help. Then the hen hears footsteps outside the door.
SayMei Stories
Chapter 3: The Warm Bread
热热的面包
The bread is baked and the smell drifts far. Who gets to eat it?
SayMei Stories
Key words in The Little Red Hen
Behind the story
The Little Red Hen is an old English folk tale, told to children for generations. It teaches that good things come to those who do the work, and that sharing the work makes life easier.
Stories with repeating questions and answers, like this one, are also a great way to learn a language, because the same words come back again and again.
Did you know?
- Wheat flour is called 面粉 (miànfěn) in Chinese, and bread is 面包 (miànbāo).
- In northern China, people eat many foods made from wheat flour, such as noodles, steamed buns and dumplings.
- In Chinese, the word for chicken is 鸡 (jī), and a mother hen is 母鸡 (mǔjī).