A hen who washes the dishes, fetches the flour, bakes the bread and brews the ale, then finishes the day with a fireside tale of her own. A cheerful, capable little heroine for a nursery rhyme.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
I had a little hen, the prettiest ever seen,
She washed me the dishes and kept the house clean;
She went to the mill to fetch me some flour,
She brought it home in less than an hour;
She baked me my bread, she brewed me my ale,
She sat by the fire and told many a fine tale.
About this rhyme
A little hen who does everything: cleans the house, fetches the flour, bakes the bread, brews the ale, and still finds time for a story by the fire. It's praise stacked on praise, each line topping the last, more fantasy than farmyard. Said with a proud voice, it plays like boasting about someone rather than describing a real hen.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition