As Chicken-licken was going one day to the wood, whack! An acorn fell from a tree on to his head.
"Gracious goodness me!" said Chicken-licken, "the sky must have fallen; I must go and tell the King."
So Chicken-licken turned back, and met Fox-Lox. She asked him “Where are you going?”
“The sky is falling, I must go and tell the King”, replied a harried Chicken- Licken. “I already know that and so does the King”, said Fox-Lox looking sad and worried.
“But that’s not how that story ends mom! You’ve got it all wrong!, exclaimed little Fiona as she lay tucked in her blankets waiting for Fox-Lox to lead the poor, naïve Chicken into her den and feed him to her children. The end always made her feel sad for Chicken-Licken but she liked listening to it over and over again.
“Well Sweetie, this time Chicken-Licken has not raised a false alarm so he doesn’t get eaten up”, Mother said, gently stroking her daughter’s hair.
“But then why doesn’t the King do something about the falling sky?”
“That’s the sad part, he can but he wouldn’t!”
“What will happen now?”, asked Fiona with her big brown questioning eyes full of surprise and anxiety. The bed-time story had defeated its own purpose and the girl was fully awake, upright and looked genuinely perturbed. Her trembling voice did not stop her Mother from going ahead with the story because the truth, however bitter it may be, had to be faced and this was no fairy-tale…
“The sky is falling because of the King’s mistakes and if he doesn’t act soon, he will die and so will all other animals in the story!”
Fiona was now leaning forward, obviously scared by her Mother’s candid prediction. The fact that the sky was actually falling down and that Chicken-Licken was not being silly had started worrying her. In her sensibility, Fox-Lox was the smartest animal in the forest and if she felt that way, there really had to be something
“What does this King look like ma? Is he a Lion?”
“No honey, he looks like one of us. He talks, walks and eats like you and me. But he is not a responsible king. He has the powers but does not use them correctly. Infact, he has made holes in the sky and that is why it is falling down.”
“Is he a bad man?”
“Just about as bad as we are. Just like we are not bothered with the sky, so is he!”
. “Can I stop the sky from falling, ma?”, she bravely volunteered.
“Of course you can. I’ll be proud if you do so”.
“But how do I can I hold the sky, it is so big”, she mumbled, realizing that she was just another five year old going to play-school.
“You don’t have to hold it with your hands, honey,” mother said with a gentle smile, “But you need to plant a lot of trees which will hold it up like these walls hold up the ceiling of your room”.
“I can do that!”, quipped little Fiona. “I will plant so many trees all around!”
“That’s very nice. Now it’s time for bed. Sleep tight Honey.”
Fiona soon drifted into a peaceful slumber and she dreamt of a lush green enchanted forest with deer, birds, hares and wolves who were all her friends.

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