Don't discount children's stories. Many of them, including the story of the little red hen, are meant to teach valuable principles. Their format is a literary narrative, so in that sense, they're not "life", but only a fool would ignore the lessons that can be learned from these stories.
People who are alive and wise learn a lot from reading history books, science textbooks, and biographies. Some people even learn simple but valuable lessons early in their lives about economics by reading about a hen who had some wheat.