The Sky's A-Falling!
@owlwings (43910)
Cambridge, England
May 10, 2016 9:01am CST
Maybe some of you remember the story of Chicken-Licken who, when an acorn fell on his head, rushed off to tell the King that the sky was a-falling. On the way he met Henny-penny, Cocky-locky, Ducky-lucky, Drakey-lakey, Goosey-loosey and Turkey-lurkey and persuaded them all to go with him to tell the King that the sky was a-falling. Unfortunately, they all met Foxy-loxy who said he would show them the way but, instead, led them to his den where he gobbled them all up. So the King never got to hear about the sky falling!
Well, whether you approve of telling your kids such macabre tales at bedtime, I used to love them and so did my children!
ANYWAY .... I felt a little like Chicken-licken the other day when I passed a wood and saw that, apparently, the sky had fallen and had carpeted the ground with the purest, brightest blue. There was also a young copper beech tree just putting out its new bronze leaves and I managed to capture both.
I didn't meet any Foxy-loxy on the way home, so I'm here to tell you all that the sky's a-fallin' and that it's the magic of a Bluebell wood at work! No picture can ever really do it justice - the blue never really comes out right - but here is just a taste!
21 people like this
22 responses
@GardenGerty (160996)
• United States
10 May 16
Your photo is absolutely stunning. I liked your introduction as well.If we did not tell our kids those tales how would they know to stay out of the den of the Foxy-loxy? They might also get gobbled up.
5 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
10 May 16
This is a gorgeous photo. I would enlarge it, frame it and put it up on a wall.
3 people like this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16792)
• China
11 May 16
@owlwings The leaves look like flowers.The tale is the mirror of real life ,there are still the Foxy-loxys now .
2 people like this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16792)
• China
13 May 16
@owlwings The beauty of the leaves take finding and only the person of good taste can find it .
2 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
13 May 16
@owlwings I am a tree fanatic. I have an entire blog devoted to trees and feature them in many others. I often see leaves in the vineyards lit from behind. Sweetgum leaves are also fun to capture when they have backlighting. That's not hard, because I always seem to be out in the late afternoon shooting something between me and the sun. Here's a shot I especially like, but it lacks a blue carpet. It's part of a larger shot that I cropped to focus on the leaves. I agree that leaves have their unique beauty, especially in autumn. The leaves in this lack the ridges that make your shot so interesting, since they came from a different tree species. You had everything in place to get the perfect shot.
2 people like this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
10 May 16
Depends on the child, but I always thought those stories were to tell a lesson, in this case, don't always believe what you heard verbatim.
2 people like this
@hora_fugit (5862)
• India
12 May 16
When everyone else had a crush on 'L' why wasn't this Henny -Lenny??
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
12 May 16
I've pondered on that for some time and I can't come up with a convincing explanation except that 'Lenny' would be a diminutive for a male name (Leonard), while 'Penny' is a female diminutive (Penelope). There may be some influence, too, from the similarity of the position of the tongue in the sounds 'n' and 'p': "Henny-Lenny" is more difficult to say, for some reason, than "Henny-Penny" (try it).
1 person likes this
@zweeb82 (5653)
• Malaysia
14 Oct 16
Awesome photo, such magnificence, such beauty
Oh yeah, and by the way I just heard the other day from my wife that they have a newer version where there was no gobbling up mentioned. I am not too sure of that though but since she sells children books online she would know better.
Oh yeah, and by the way I just heard the other day from my wife that they have a newer version where there was no gobbling up mentioned. I am not too sure of that though but since she sells children books online she would know better.1 person likes this
@ashutoshpandey (93)
• Allahabad, India
10 May 16
Do you think this type of stories are good? The moral of any story should be clear and compelling but I feel these stories are not so clear. If we have to tell what was the moral then story is not clear at all. What do you think?
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
10 May 16
I think there are two morals to the story. They always seemed pretty clear to me. I tell them in detail in my comment to Fiacre above (or below, depending on the way the page organises itself for you!)
@xFiacre (13171)
• Ireland
10 May 16
@owlwings That story I found both outrageous and entertaining in equal measures as a child but it was also quite disturbing because I didn't see the point in telling it! And yes, that kind of blue is so pure it can damage the eyes if you look too long at it. I was puzzled a bit when I read all that though because I couldn't see where a "young copper" fitted in till I read it again!
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
10 May 16
The moral of Chicken-Licken is, of course, two-fold. First, you should get your facts straight before you decide to go and make an idiot of yourself telling the King that the sky's a-falling and, second, if you are a bit of a fool, you are more likely to be fooled by those foxy people who seek to lead you astray. That was always clear to me as a child (though whether it was explained to me by my parents or not, I can't say). A third message - not such a good one, perhaps - is that the story may teach children that fools are to be scoffed at rather than to be deserving of sympathy.
There were no 'boys in blue' around when I braved the "No Trespassers" signs and the barbed wire to get a better view of the young Fagus sylvatica purpurea and the bluebells!.
2 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
13 May 16
@owlwings I almost got caught with barbed wire myself while shooting this one through a winery fence after I discovered the winery closed at 4:30 instead of five as I'd thought. I needed the photo for a blog I had to post that night. I didn't realize they had put a waist high barbed wire fence just outside of the deer fence. The photo is of Heart Hill, a natural heart-shaped oak grove. Niner Estates, the winery, planted vines all around it. I almost got on the wire trying to poke my lens through the holes in the deer fence to get the shot. I normally photograph this hill from inside the fence closer to the hill.
1 person likes this
@cindiowens (5120)
• North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
10 May 16
That is beautiful. I am glad Foxy-Loxy didn't get you, and you were able to share it with us.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (168420)
• Boise, Idaho
10 May 16
The green and healthy leaves on the tree I see out my bedroom window has increased. I can't see across the street. Just the leaves. Blue bells, huh?
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
13 May 16
It's a gorgeous shot. I love the contrasting colors. As for the story, here it was "Chicken Little." I loved it, as most children did, because of its repetition and its message. Probably our expression "You'd think the sky was falling" comes from that story being part of a common cultural heritage -- a heritage fewer and fewer seem to share each day.
1 person likes this
