Fairy Tales Can Come True: Uh Oh!

Not exactly a fairy tale, but pretty Grimm. Chicken Little shouted the warning, as did Turkey Lurkey, Gander Lander, Henny Penny, Duckey Daddles, Chicken Licken (Not a fast food chain), Kylling Kluk, Cocotte Chocotte, Hennig Pfennig, Pollita Chiquita, Sabrina Gallina, or even a 4th century Asian rabbit: The sky is falling, be it evidenced by a falling fruit, an acorn, a log, or a low cloud. The end is near.

And Foxy Loxy is hiding in ambush.

The fear response is planted deeply in our genes and our folklore, often expressed in childhood tales that go back centuries. Psychologists long ago identified Chicken Little syndrome, suffered by groups of true believers along with those who have been numbed by the clucking to not give a damn anymore.

Commissioned by the US government to support the war effort in 1943, Disney’s take on the fable has Foxy Loxy, inspired by Mein Kampf, beaning Chicken Little, a certified dimwit who could easily be manipulated, with a hunk of wood. Little whips up sky-is-falling hysteria with Henny Penny, Turkey Lurkey, Ducky Lucky and Goosey Poosie only to be fact-checked and disproven by Cocky Locky. But Foxy beans Cocky with another log and believing that the sky really is falling, the panicking poultry shuffle off to a cave, which is actually Foxy Loxy’s den. The final scene shows Foxy Loxy, fat after chicken dinner, sitting on his copy of Mein Kampf, arranging wishbones, smoking a cigar and playing with Chicken Little’s yo yo while scolding the narrator to not believe everything he reads. In post-war versions of the cartoon, Mein Kampf was replaced by a psychology book.

Now politicians and the watch or die media cluck 24 hours a day, imploring us to click here, or shocking details after the break, promising a valuable toy in the bottom of the Cracker Jack box. Whereas traditional news writing offered the basic facts of a story in the first paragraph, now Foxy Loxy News rambles on like a bad novel with ads or commercials falling like dead flies on the page of a book.

I fear is that we are being driven into a cave and risk being devoured by packs of Foxy Loxys. Maybe the sky really is falling.

But perhaps sly lion can offer some hope. 4th Century Buddhist script tells the story of a rabbit who, like Chicken Little, fears that the world is ending after being bonked on the head by falling fruit, The noise the hare heard triggers a stampede, which is halted by a wise lion, who, like a good investigative reporter, calmly sets him straight and ends the panic. Buddhists used this fable to teach the importance of investigation and deductive reasoning. But reasoning is a weak foe of fear.

Maybe we little creatures can take a lesson from one of my favorite childhood books, the 1950s Mr. Bear Squash You All Flat. It’s latest edition has an afterword by Gary Larson).

It is about a fat bear, always depicted with his tongue hanging out, looking like an unfit golfer with a 20 handicap on a hot day, who took pleasure in sitting on and squashing the homes of tiny forest creatures. He was jealous, too stupid to build a house of his own. At least, narcissist that he was, he gave fair warning:”I’m Mr. Bear Squash You All Flat. I’m going to count to three and then I am going to squash you flat! “

Mr. Bear created a homelessness crisis in the forest, with chipmunks, mice, rabbits and other creatures scurrying about for new shelter. But they found strength in community. The mouse found an old tire, redecorated it, and invited the others to join him. They discovered that they could live happily together. But Mr. Bear Squash You All Flat found them and they scattered, before he mounted the tire and started to bounce. Like, hopefully, the US Constitution, the tire was a resilient structure. He couldn’t squash it. Then, after a running start, he pounced on the tire with all of his blubbery weight, bouncing so hard that he flew up and hit his head on an oak branch. He suffered minor bruises, but his pride was severely injured. Mr. Bear lumbered off and was never seen again. The forest animals celebrated and…you know the rest of the story.

Come November, I hope we can all come together, vote and have reason to celebrate too.