Attila the Hen

Music by	Jim Timmens
Lyrics by	David Korr
Date	1977
Publisher	Dreaming Dragon Music

"Attila the Hen" is a song from The Sesame Street Fairy Tale Album. The melody is reworked from "Sweet Betsy from Pike."

Performed by Big Bird about a famous bird, the song is a musical telling of "The Little Red Hen," here named Attila. She has six chicks, who she raises to be good and industrious. They find some stray corn, and ask the other farm animals for help: the cow, the horse, the pig, the hound dog, and the cat. They all say "Not I," of course, at each stage. So Attila and her brood plant, water, weed, tend, harvest, and cook the corn.

When asked who will help them eat the corn, the answer is.... "ME," says Cookie Monster. "Me eat the corn fritters and corn muffins too... me eat corn forever..." Big Bird steers the song back to the expected conclusion, as Attila reminds the animals that they can't share the rewards if they won't share the labor.