The Little Half Chick Story Cue Card

 

Ethnic Origin:  Hispanic, Cuban

Time: 7 minutes

Power Center:  Sense of righteousness/justice in the revenge of the wind, water, and fire to the little chick.  This sense of justice is the point I wanted to convey to the audience, the fact that the vain and selfish little chick ends up getting exactly what he deserves in the end.

Characters: Medio Pollito, fire, water, wind, and he king

Scenes:  1. little vain half chick sets off from his farm 2.  The chick does not help wind, water and fire 3.  He gets cooked, drowned, and swept away  4.  he returns home and becomes a weathervane

Synopsis:  A vain little half chick sets out from home to Madrid to meet the king.  Along the way he meets fire, water and wind, all of which ask for his help.  The little half chick denies each of these.  Upon arrival to the palace he is thrown in a pot by the cook and boiled by water, and scorched by fire.  The king throws him out, and the wind sweeps him up and places him on top of the mill where he becomes a weathervane.

Flavor:  “Tipi- Tap, Tipi-Tap, Tipi-Tap.  The noise the chick makes when he walks..  Also his name Medio Pollito and Madrid give it ethnic flavor.

Audience:  Kids will find the story humorous and will enjoy the sounds and different voices.  They will also  have no trouble picturing the wind, water, and fire as “live” characters.

Bibliographic:  Ashliman, D.L. (1987). The little half chick. A Guide to Folktales in the English Language.  New York, NY: Greenwood Press, 146.

            Bryant, Sandra Cone. The Little Half Chick. Stories to Tell Children: 51 Stories with Suggestions for Telling.  University of Virginia:  electronic Text Center.

            Green, Ellin.(1996).  The Little Half Chick. Storytelling. New Jersey: Bowker.

Comparison: The main differences in the Cone and Green version are that medio pollito makes a hoppity-skip instead of tipi-tap.  Also, the cook throws out the chick, not the king.  The Ashliman version was entirely different.  I this version it is the chick that is wronged and he extracts revenge along with is animal friends and returns heroically to the mill.