The European folk-tale/fairy-tale “Henny Penny,” is an old story that goes as far back as twenty five centuries. The American version is known as “Chicken Little” or “Chicken Licken.” It is a delightful children’s tale ,which I adored as a child about a frightened little chicken named Henny Penny. The theme throughout the fairy tale is that “The Sky is Falling!” cried out by the scared small chicken who felt an acorn fall upon her head, she reacts with hysteria. Henny Penny desires to warn the King and with her many friends who accompany her along the way.

It is similar to the Climate Change warning of modern day. Fearmongering is known to cause the public a type of hysteria known as Chicken Little Syndrome, described by D.L. Ashliman as a fear of an apocalyptic event of the world that can cause paralysis.