I love the illustrations in Richard Scarry’s “The Little Red Hen”, a surprisingly hard-to-find little book. When I read it to my daughter, I think I’m the one who enjoys it the most. The characters are cute. The message is strong.
The little red hen finds some grains of wheat and tries multiple time to get the other animals involved in the process of making bread. Each time she asks for volunteers, the other animals opt out. When the task is finally done and the bread is baked, she asks who is willing to eat the bread. The other animals are now eager to participate. Too late. The little red hen says she did all the work so she will eat all the bread.
Is the hen greedy? Should she be required to share with those who have no bread? If the animals could put it to a vote, would they vote to take her bread and keep it for themselves? She saw an opportunity. She put in the work to make it happen. She didn’t cheat anyone or steal anything. Nobody else was willing to help until the bread was ready to eat.
It’s interesting how the hen might be seen as selfish and unkind by some people. They feel she should be willing to give to the others because she has bread and they don’t. Those who criticize the inequality of the outcome, don’t consider the inequality of the input.
Somehow the greed of the non-participants is not considered greed. They covet something they could have helped create. They want her to share, but they were unwilling to share their labor.