16. Henny Penny and the sky is falling
The well-known story of Henny Penny, also known as Chicken Little, is based on oral folk tradition and is a fable with several different endings. One thing common to all versions is a chicken concerned with the end of the world, demonstrated by the repetition of the phrase, “the sky is falling”. In 1806, in Leeds, England, another chicken contributed to the local belief that the world was coming to an end, indicated by the return of Jesus Christ as foretold in the Bible. The chicken, a hen, laid eggs which had “Christ is coming” written on their shells as they emerged. The bird, which became known as the Prophet Hen of Leeds, was owned by a self-proclaimed fortune-teller and prophet named Mary Bateman.
Mrs. Bateman was a con artist, though she succeeded in convincing many in the Leeds area that the end times were upon them. Later investigation found that she had used acid to etch the phrase in the eggshell before re-inserting them in the hen’s oviduct just before witnesses arrived to observe the miraculous event. After seeing the hen lay the egg, the witnesses spread the word about Mrs. Bateman’s veracity. Throughout Leeds, citizens prepared for the world to end. After her fraud was revealed, Mrs. Bateman operated other scams and crimes, including a murder by poisoning, for which she was tried, convicted, and hanged in March, 1809. The world went on.