World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
The Sky Is Falling
天要塌了
The Sky Is Falling (天要塌了, Tiān yào tā le) is a set of fables, retold in simple Mandarin as 3 short stories with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
Retold from the European folk tale of Henny Penny: a hen is hit by an acorn, thinks the sky is falling, and runs to warn the king with her friends. A sly fox offers a shortcut.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — A warm grandfather-like storyteller.
- Little Red Hen · 小红鸡 — A small, plump hen who panics easily but has a big heart.
- Duck · 鸭子 — A tall, trusting duck who follows her friends.
- Goose · 大鹅 — A big, loud goose who loves hot tea and drama.
- Fox · 狐狸 — A smooth-talking fox with a hungry look.
3 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Acorn
小红鸡的头
A hen is hit on the head and is sure the sky is falling. She hurries off to warn the king, and a fox happens to know a shortcut.
Free to read
Chapter 2: The Shortcut
近路
The fox leads the friends down a strange path to the king's home. But why is the king's home a dark hole in a hill?
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Chapter 3: Run, Run, Run
快跑
The friends race for their lives with the fox on their heels. Then a big voice saves the day, and the sky gets a proper look.
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Key words in The Sky Is Falling
Behind the story
This is a folk tale from Europe, best known in English as Henny Penny or Chicken Little. A small animal is sure the sky is falling and drags a growing crowd of friends along, until a fox tricks them. The English version that many people know was printed by Joseph Jacobs in 1890.
Chinese readers have their own famous story about the same worry: 杞人忧天, a man from the state of Qi who could not sleep because he feared the sky would fall. It is a classic idiom for worrying about things that will never happen, and it comes from the ancient book Liezi.
Did you know?
- In English, calling someone a "Chicken Little" means they panic and warn everyone about a disaster that isn't real.
- The Chinese idiom 杞人忧天 (Qǐrényōutiān) is still used today to tease someone for worrying too much.
- Very old Buddhist stories from India also tell of an animal that hears a fruit fall and thinks the world is ending.