The Unfalling Sky
A diminutive
Rhode Island Red hatchling was pecking and scratching in the barnyard under a
big oak tree. A gentle breeze came up, raising a slight dust and causing the
tree’s leaves to tremble. An acorn wobbled loose and dropped, but before it
reached the ground it fell on the head of the pint-size chicken.
“Heavens
above, and as sure as I’ve been hatched, the sky is falling.” Chicky Licky
cried out,
Whereupon
she dashed to and fro crying “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”
Ducky
Lucky was grooming her tail feathers, but when she heard the news she abandoned
her toilet and quacked “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” Instead of
running to and fro she ran back and forth.
In
less time than it takes to tell, all the barnyard warm-blooded, egg-laying
vertebrate animals—including Turkey Lurkey and Henny Penny—were dashing in
different directions, and each was adding to the outcry of “The sky is falling,
the sky is falling!”
Foxy
Woxy was watching the hubbub from the side of the barn. “What a bunch of ninnies,”
he muttered to no one in particular. The sky is no more falling than it is made
of cream cheese.”
So
Foxy Woxy bided his time until the silly fowls had reached the peak of their frenzy,
at which they all dropped, exhausted, to the ground. Then he trotted on little
fox feet into the barnyard and ate every last one of them.
Lesson: Mass hysteria can hit almost
anywhere, so use common sense before falling into a collective delusion.
