Czechs and The Little Red Hen

One day when talking to my occasional student, Hana, who is the secretary at the tennis club, I asked her how she was, and she said, “Oh I have to do everything around here. Everyone wants everything done, but no one is willing to help out.” – So I said, “Oh you are like the Little Red Hen.” And she looked at me with a perplexed expression. So I explained to her that the Little Red Hen is a famous story and that I would find a copy of it for her.

So a couple of weeks later, I gave her a copy of the story (only a one page version) and she said she would read it when she had some time. A few days later, I saw her and she said that she was indeed like the Little Red Hen, but she didn’t even get any bread to eat at the end.

So I have had a copy of the story with me and have had several of my students read it, with very interesting reactions. One of my students, a 22 year-old, who has VERY old-fashioned values (i.e. he thinks his girlfriend is too ambitious, and this is a BAD quality for a girl!), read the story and said that the Little Red Hen was selfish because she ate all the bread herself. And that even though no one helped, she still should have shared it with all of them. This was the reaction of several of my male students.

All of my female students have identified with the Little Red Hen…. One of my male students said that it was a very sad story because now that the Little Red Hen had eaten all the bread, she would be nice and fat and end up as someone’s soup! (hen soup is very popular here).

Very interesting cultural lesson here… and this is the beauty of living in this country. Full of conflicting views and beliefs. Boys will gladly open doors for you, but they go in first here, see they have to make sure the room you are entering is safe. Which, if you think about it, makes so much more sense then sending the woman into a strange place first! They will walk on the street side of the sidewalk, take your arm, insist on paying for things… BUT will expect you to take care of them in everyway possible, AND many of them still assume that men are superior to women. ACK!

As a product of the Women’s Lib era, I actually don’t mind most of the 1950’s mentality and gender roles. I love taking care of my man, as long as he’s appreciative and doesn’t “just expect it”. So here I am in the first months of year two, I sort of have a boyfriend (far too difficult to explain!) and am being schooled in the ways of Czech relationships. If the language doesn’t kill me first, the social conventions just may! But is will be a slow and pleasant death.