Hi, Rebecca Shear here. Before we get to our story, exciting news.
Circle Round is going back on tour. with live recordings across the united states our first stop Sunday, October 5th in Parker, Colorado at the Pace Center.
And Circle Round Club members are invited to a special post-show meet and greet with me and composer Eric Shimalonis.
Get your tickets at wbur.org slash circle around and click on events.
We're announcing more tour stops soon, so stay tuned.
We look forward to circling around with you live.
Produced by the iLab at WBUR Boston. Have you ever found something that somebody lost?
A lonely mitten on the street, perhaps? Or even a cat or dog?
When we find lost things... It feels great when we can return them to their rightful owner.
But what do you do when the owner is nowhere to be found?
The characters in today's story find a very creative solution.
Thank you. I'm Rebecca Sheer, and welcome to Circle Round, where storytime happens all the time.
Today our story is called One Speckled Hen.
It comes from an old Jewish tale that dates back centuries.
Some really great people came together to bring you our version of this folktale, including Andre De Shields.
Andre is a Broadway legend who won the 2019 Tony Award for his starring role in the smash hit musical, Hadestown, now playing at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York City.
So circle around, everyone, for one speckled hen.
Hannah and her father lived a few miles from the sea, in a cozy little house surrounded by green, grassy hills. every morning before Hannah's dad went to work and Hannah took off for school.
The two of them sat down for a humble breakfast, and every night after another modest meal, The two of them sat on the front porch and chatted and laughed about their day.
One morning, Hannah and her father were about to tuck into their usual simple breakfast when they heard something odd through the window.
Chicken? Sure sounds like it. But we don't have any chickens.
Let's go see. Hannah and her dad raced outside, and there, strutting and clucking around the green grassy hills... was one speckled hen.
Hannah knelt down and stroked the bird's feathers.
Wow! Look at these feathers. I've never seen anything like them.
They're all polka-dotted with black and white and red and brown.
Hannah looked up at her father and grinned.
Dad? Can we keep her? Please? A pet chicken would be so cool.
And think of it, we could eat fresh eggs every morning.
Hmm. When was the last time we could afford fresh eggs?
Hannah's dad shook his head. Not so fast, sweetie.
Why not? Don't they always say finders, keepers, losers, weepers?
They do say that. But it isn't necessarily true.
We need to learn who this chicken belongs to Then give her back.
So Hannah and her father fetched a wheelbarrow, placed the bird inside, and wheeled her over to their nearest neighbor's house.
But that neighbor... A chicken? ...had never laid eyes on the speckled hen.
Nor had the next neighbor. I didn't lose a chicken. nor the next.
She's not mine! At the end of the day, Hannah and her dad wheeled the speckled hen back to their house.
I don't know, Hannah. I'm beginning to think this chicken doesn't belong to anybody.
Hannah shook her head. But Dad, it's like you said.
Finders aren't necessarily keepers, so she doesn't belong to us either.
Still, she gazed at the bird. What if we took care of her until her owner comes back?
It seems like the right thing to do. Hannah's dad smiled.
Alright, kiddo. But a chicken needs a safe place to stay.
Let's build her a house. They rummaged through the shed for some scrap wood and chicken wire.
They used the wood to make a coop for the bird to sleep in.
Then they surrounded the coop with chicken wire, so the hen could peck at bugs and earthworms in the grass without wandering away.
The next morning, when Hannah and her father went out to the coop to check on the bird, Whoa!
They saw that the one speckled hen had laid one brown egg.
My, my, what a beautiful egg. Am I the only one who's craving omelets all of a sudden?
Hannah wagged her finger. This egg doesn't belong to us, Dad.
It belongs to whoever owns the speckled hen.
But then the next day, the speckled hen laid another brown egg.
And the next day. And the next. And still, the hen's owner was nowhere to be seen.
After a week, Hannah's dad began to worry.
Hannah. We can't just leave these eggs sitting here.
They'll rot and get all smelly. Hannah scrunched up her forehead.
Well, we can't keep the eggs, and we can't eat the eggs.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up. But I know exactly what we can do.
What do you think Hannah's big idea is? And will the owner of the one speckled hen and her many, many eggs ever show up we'll find out after a quick break Support for Circle Round comes from Indeed.
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Hiring? Indeed is all you need. side. I'm Rebecca Shear.
Welcome back to Circle Round. Today our story is called One Speckled Hen.
One Speckled Hen Amen. When we left off, one speckled hen had appeared in the green grassy hills. surrounding the cozy house Hannah shared with her dad.
The hen didn't belong to them, so they decided they would take care of the bird until her owner came.
Then the chicken laid one beautiful brown egg, and another, and another.
But here's the thing. If the chicken didn't belong to Hannah and her dad, then neither did the eggs.
So they couldn't eat the eggs or sell the eggs.
But Hannah thought of something they could do.
Thank you. She gathered the eggs and wheeled them to market.
When she came home, she was hauling a big bag What an excellent trade you've made, Hannah.
Chicken eggs for chicken feed. Thanks, Dad.
I thought it would be nice for the hen to have something to eat besides earthworms and bugs.
We'll give her this chicken feed until her owner comes back.
Hannah and her dad scattered some feed around the coop.
And the hen gobbled it up. Well, that feed must have been extra nutritious because the hen kept laying eggs.
All of them even bigger. Did you see this one?
And more beautiful. Nice job, girl. Than the first ones.
Wow! But still. The hen's owner was nowhere to be seen.
Hannah, we're running out of chicken feed.
And the hen has laid all these new, big, beautiful eggs.
What do we do? Hannah furrowed her brow and scratched her head.
Let me think. Aha! I know just the thing.
So once more, Hannah gathered up the eggs and wheeled them to market.
When she came home, she was hauling another bag of chicken feed and walking beside one brown cow.
You've made another trade, Hannah. Now we have more food for the chicken and...
The cow blinked her long eyelashes as Hannah petted her wet nose.
Well... The people at the market were so impressed by our big beautiful eggs that they insisted on giving me this cow.
But don't worry, Dad. We have all these green grassy hills for her to graze on.
We'll just take care of her until her owner comes back.
Wait a minute. Her owner? Hannah's dad narrowed his eyes.
What do you mean, her owner? Well, think about it.
We got the brown cow by trading in the speckled hen's eggs, right?
Right. And if the speckled hen doesn't belong to us, and her eggs don't belong to us, Then the cow doesn't belong to us either.
You're right, Hannah. You're right. Hannah and her father spent the next days scattering chicken feed.
Come and get it. collecting eggs. This one is huge.
And milking the brown cow. And still, the hen's owner was nowhere to be seen.
Hannah? We're getting low on chicken feet again.
We have even more eggs, and now we have gallons and gallons of milk.
We can't eat the eggs or drink the milk.
But we can't let them sit either. Rotten milk will be even stinkier than rotten eggs.
Any brilliant ideas this time, kiddo? Actually, Hannah thought for a moment.
Yes, but I'll need your help. While Hannah gathered the eggs, her father collected the bottles of milk.
Then Hannah wheeled everything to market when she came home.
She was hauling another bag of chicken feed and walking beside one gray sheep.
Oh, boy. Another trade. So now we have more food for the chicken.
And a sheep. Hannah ran her hand through the sheep's wool.
Well. This time, the people at the market were so impressed by our big, beautiful eggs and our delicious creamy milk that they insisted on giving me this sheep.
But she can join the cow on the green grassy hills and, like I said before, We'll just take care of her.
Until her owner comes back. Of course. Hannah and her father spent the next days scattering chicken feet.
Chow time. collecting eggs, milking the brown cow, and watching the sheep. grow woolier and woolier.
And still, the hen's owner was nowhere to be seen.
Hannah, we're running low on chicken feed again.
We've got even more eggs and more milk, and it's high time we shared this sheep. but we can't eat or keep the eggs, we can't drink or keep the milk, and we can't keep all this wool either.
What do you say, kiddo? Hannah didn't say anything. she turned her eyes toward the green grassy hill where the woolly sheep and brown cow were grazing peacefully.
Then she turned her eyes toward the chicken coop, where the one speckled hen was...
Oh no! Nowhere to be seen. Oh my goodness.
She must have escaped. Father, we have to find her.
Hannah and her dad dashed up and down the hills, but they caught neither hide nor hair of the polka-dotted bird.
Hannah slumped down on the grass with a sigh.
We took such good care of the speckled hen, Dad, waiting for her owner to return and...
Now we've lost her. What are we going to do?
But before Hannah's father could respond... Matilda!
They saw a man in fancy clothing yelling on the road outside their house.
He was staring at their front porch and calling out a name.
Mate. Suddenly, from beneath the porch, who should emerge but the one speckled hen.
Her little head bobbed frantically as she scurried over to the man, who then scooped her up in his arms and gave her a big hug.
Oh, Matilda! Darling, oh, I thought I'd never see you again.
Hannah and her father exchanged a look. Then they ran over to the man.
Excuse us, sir. Do you know this bird? The man laughed.
Know her? Why, she's my best friend in the entire world. and I thought I'd lost her forever.
The man took a deep breath. then gestured toward the hills where the cow and sheep were peacefully nibbling grass.
You see, like you, I once lived among these green grassy hills.
But unlike you, I didn't have such good fortune.
My farm fell on hard times, and I lost everything I had.
The one thing I didn't lose. He gazed down at the speckled hen. was my best friend.
Tilda! The man explained that he left his home in hopes of making money as a merchant overseas.
He and his beloved hen boarded a ship, but just as the boat was pulling out of port...
The bird jumped out of his arms and waddled back to the shore.
And as the ship floated off toward the horizon, I watched helplessly as my plump, polka-dotted Matilda became smaller.
And smaller. then disappeared completely.
The man's eyes welled up with tears. Hannah handed him a handkerchief.
Thank you. Well. After grieving the loss of my chicken for a few days, I bucked up and got to work.
I became a successful merchant. And now that I've made my fortune, I've come back home again.
The man patted the speckled hen's head. It seems you've taken excellent care of Matilda here.
Do you mind if I take her home? Oh, we don't mind at all.
But you might want to take home all of your other things too.
The man looked puzzled as Hannah pointed at the sheep and the cow grazing on the grassy hill.
So she told him the story of everything that had happened, how she and her father started with very little, until they found this one speckled hen.
The man's eyebrows shot up high, higher and higher as Hannah told her tale.
At last, She came to the end. So now that we've found you, you can take home your one speckled hen. and your one brown cow and your one gray sheep, not to mention a whole Oh, yeah.
There's no need for that. Hannah cocked her head.
What do you mean? The two of you have gone to such great lengths not to be finders and keepers.
This whole time, you've worked so hard and gained so much.
Yet you've claimed nothing for yourself.
Not the hen, not the eggs, not the cow, not the milk, not the sheep, None of it.
He gestured toward his fancy clothes. Like I said, I've made my fortune.
I have everything I could possibly want.
Especially now that I've found Matilda here. so I'll take her home.
But as a reward for your good deeds and for your hard work, You keep the eggs and the cow and the milk and the sheep.
The man winked an eye. Goodness knows you deserve it.
Then he turned around and he and Matilda went back home.
The next day, Hannah took Matilda's eggs to market and traded them for one yellow hen.
And from then on, Hannah and her dad lived comfortably.
They had eggs to eat. milk to drink, and plenty of wool to keep them warm all winter long.
Now it's your turn. The next time you find something someone has lost, what might you do to help them get it back again?
Pick a grown-up and brainstorm all the different ways the two of you might track down the owner.
Would you put up a flyer? Would you float over the neighborhood in a blimp, calling out to people with a megaphone?
Be as creative as you'd like as you dream up ways to reunite the owner with what they lost.
Woo-hoo! This week's story, One Speckled Hen, was adapted by me, Rebecca Shear, and edited by Virginia Marshall.
Circle Round's original music and sound design is by Eric Shimalonis.
You can find Eric's compilation of music from Season 1 of Circle Round on iTunes, Amazon, and the CD Baby Store.
Visit our website, wbur.org. and click on Soundtrack and Coloring pages.
And while you're there, you can find black and white illustrations for each and every Circle Round story All of them created by our artist, Sabina Hahn.
Pick one, print it out, then add your very own colors.
Special thanks to this week's actors. Noah Lewis Bailey, Elle Borders, Amy Brentano, Hannah Kenney, Adam Mastroianni, and Andre De Shields.
If you're in New York City, you can see Andre star as Hermes in the musical Hadestown, now playing on Broadway.
This week's featured instrument was the acoustic guitar.
You can learn more about this stringed instrument and see a picture on our website.
Once more, that's wbur.org slash circleround.
Have you subscribed to Circle Around yet?
Find us on Apple Podcasts podcasts, or whatever podcast app you use, and please leave a rating and write a quick It helps other families find the show.
Circle Round is a production of WBUR, Boston's NPR news station.
I'm Rebecca Shear. Thanks for circling around with us.
As you're listening to Circle Around right now, did you know that you're not alone?
That's right, hundreds of thousands of other kids are listening too, all over the world.
Have a listen. Maybe one of their stories is one of yours, too.
Hello, my name is Greta. I am eight years old and I live in Colorado.
My favorite story is the hat, the horn, and the purse. curse and i listen to circle around every night my name is everest my favorite stroke around is the taste of honey Hi, I'm Harper and I'm from Burbank, California.
And my favorite circle around is the magic cloth.
My name is Jacob and I'm six and I like Sound Dragon because Stella sort of faced her. fears hey my name is Jacob And I am five years old, and I live in California.
And my favorite circle round is the king and the cobbler.
Because I like the part where he's so happy all the time.
Did someone mention an episode you missed?
No problem. You can find every single Circle Round story on our website.
That's wbur.org slash circleround, or wherever you and your grown-ups get your podcasts.
