From Workers’ Tales, a collection of British socialist fairy tales from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, edited by Michael Rosen and published last month by Princeton University Press.

In the days before man had completely established his domination over the animal world, the poultry of a certain country, unnamed in my record, met in solemn conference in the largest hall they could hire for their money. The period was serious, for it was dawning near Christmas, and the question in the debate partook of the gravity of the times; for, in short, various resolutions—the wording of which…