One Little Feather Can Easily Grow Into Five Hens

Respectable hen :  "There it goes, the more I pluck, the more beautiful I become." (She said it with a merry note of humour before falling asleep).

Half asleep hen :  "Did you hear what she said?  She intends to pluck herself in order to look beautiful.  If I were a rooster, I would despise her."  (Telling her neighbour before falling asleep).

The owl who overheard :  "Have you heard?  Too-Whoo!  There is a hen who has plucked out all her feathers for the sake of the rooster.  She will freeze to death, if she is not frozen already. Whoo-whoo!" (Telling his friend in the neighbour's dovecote).

The doves :  "Believe every word of what we tell you.  There is a hen or two who has plucked out all her feathers in order not to look like the others and to attract the attention of the rooster.  It is a dangerous game, for one can easily catch cold and die from fever, and she's already dead."  (Telling other doves).

The rooster who overheard :  "Wake up!  Three hens have died of their unfortunate love for a rooster.  

They plucked out all their feathers.  It is a horrible story, and I cannot keep it to myself.  Quick, tell the others!"  (Telling everyone in and around the henhouse).

Friend of Respectable hen :  "Five hens have plucked out all their feathers to show which of them had grown leanest for love of the rooster, and then they all pecked at each other till the blood ran down and they fell down dead."  (Telling Respectable hen herself).

Abstract from There is No Doubt

from Andersen's Fairy Tales

retold by Friederun Reichenstetter; 

illustrated by Silke Leffler.