《小红母鸡》常被当作英国民间故事，但目前能找到的最早印本出自美国：1874年，美国儿童杂志《圣尼古拉斯》刊登了这个故事。杂志主编玛丽·梅普斯·道奇说，这是她小时候常听妈妈讲的故事。在最早的版本里，不肯帮忙的动物有五个：老鼠、猫、狗、鸭子和猪，后来讲的人越来越多，才慢慢简化成今天常见的三个。

The Little Red Hen is often called an English folk tale, but the earliest printed version found so far comes from America. In 1874, the American children's magazine St. Nicholas published the story. Its editor, Mary Mapes Dodge, said it was a tale her mother often told her as a child. In that earliest version, five animals refuse to help: a rat, a cat, a dog, a duck and a pig. As more and more people retold it, the cast was gradually trimmed to the three animals we usually see today.

《圣尼古拉斯》是十九世纪美国最有名的儿童杂志之一，我们第175期讲过的《姜饼人》，也是1875年在这本杂志上第一次印出来的。后来，《小红母鸡》被编进了许多美国和英国的识字课本，句子短、重复多，"谁愿意帮我……？""我不去。"一遍遍出现，正好适合刚学认字的孩子跟着读。

St. Nicholas was one of the most famous children's magazines in nineteenth-century America. The Gingerbread Man, which we told in episode 175, was also first printed in this magazine, in 1875. Later, The Little Red Hen was included in many American and British reading primers. Its sentences are short and repeat again and again, "Who will help me...?" "Not I.", which makes it just right for children who are learning to read.

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