"You must pardon me," he said. "I had no idea it was you, for you wakedme out of a sound sleep."
"Sound sleep, indeed!" Henrietta Hen exclaimed with a sniff. "Why, youhad been crowing only a few moments before. In fact it was your crowingthat roused me."
"No doubt!" said the Rooster. "But you see, I fell asleep againimmediately."
"Then you must be ill," Henrietta retorted, "for I've never known you togo to sleep again, once you've begun your morning's crowing."
"But it's not morning now," the Rooster informed her. "It's not even lateat night--certainly not an hour since sunset."
Henrietta Hen was astonished.
"I noticed that the night seemed short," she muttered.
The Rooster thought it a great joke.
"Ha! ha!" he laughed. And he said to the rest of the flock, with achuckle, "Henrietta thought it was morning! No doubt she'd have gone outinto the yard if the door hadn't been shut." And the other hens alltittered. They always did, if the rooster expected them to.
Well, if there was one thing that Henrietta Hen couldn't endure, it wasto be laughed at.
"Don't be silly!" she cried. "Why shouldn't I think it was morning, whenhe crowed almost in my ear?"
"Don't you know why I crowed?" the Rooster asked her. And without waitingfor any reply, he said, "I crowed to let Farmer Green know it was goingto rain to-morrow."
Of course Henrietta Hen had to have the last word. The Rooster might haveknown she would.
"Then," she observed, "I suppose you squawked to let him know there was askunk in the henhouse."
XVIII
IN NEED OF ADVICE
Something was troubling Henrietta Hen. She seemed to have some secretsorrow. No longer did she move with her well-known queenly manner amongher neighbors in the farmyard. Instead, she spent a good deal of her timemoping. And no one could guess the reason. She didn't even care to talkto anybody--not even to boast about her fine, speckled coat. And thatcertainly was not in the least like Henrietta Hen.
Always, before, Henrietta had seized every chance to parade before thepublic. Now she seemed to crave privacy.
What was the matter? To tell the truth, Henrietta Hen herself did notknow the answer to that question. That is to say, she did not know _why_a certain thing was so. She only knew that a great misfortune hadbefallen her. And she dreaded to tell anybody about it.
To be sure, there was old Whitey--a hen who had lived on the farm longerthan any other. Most members of the flock often asked her advice. EvenHenrietta herself had done that. But this difficulty was something shedidn't want to mention to a neighbor. If there were only somebody outsidethe flock to whom she could go for help! But she knew of no one.
Then Henrietta happened to hear of Aunt Polly Woodchuck. The Muley Cow,who went to the pasture every day, mentioned Aunt Polly's name toHenrietta. According to the Muley Cow, Aunt Polly Woodchuck was an herbdoctor--and a good one, too. No matter what might be troubling a person,Aunt Polly was sure to have something right in her basket to cure it.
"I'd like to see her," Henrietta Hen had said. "But I can't go way up inthe pasture, under the hill."
"Could you go to the end of the lane?" the Muley Cow inquired.
"Yes!"
"Then I'll ask Aunt Polly Woodchuck to meet you by the bars to-morrowmorning," the Muley Cow promised.
That suited Henrietta Hen.
"I'll be there--if it doesn't rain," she agreed.
Early the next day she followed the cows through the lane. And she hadn'twaited long at the bars when Aunt Polly Woodchuck came hobbling up toher. Being a very old lady, Aunt Polly was somewhat lame. But she wasspry, for all that. And her eyes were as bright as buttons.
Henrietta Hen saw at once that Aunt Polly was hopelessly old-fashioned.She carried a basket on her arm, and a stick in her hand.
"Well, well, dearie! Here you are!" cried Aunt Polly Woodchuck. "TheMuley Cow tells me you're feeling poorly. Do tell me all about yourself!No doubt I've something in my basket that will do you a world of good."
"Don't Worry!" Said Aunt Polly Woodchuck. (_Page 91_)]
XIX
AUNT POLLY HELPS
Somehow Henrietta Hen couldn't help liking Aunt Polly Woodchuck, in spiteof her old-fashioned appearance. She certainly had a way with her--a waythat made a person _want_ to tell her his troubles.
"I don't know whether you can help me or not," said Henrietta Hen. "Haveyou any feathers in your basket?"
"No--no! No feathers!" Aunt Polly replied. "I use herbs in my business ofdoctoring. But I've heard that a burnt feather held under a body's nosewill do wonders sometimes.... I must always carry a feather in my basket,hereafter."
"_One_ feather wouldn't do me any good," said Henrietta Hen with adoleful sigh. "I need a great many more than one."
"You do?" Aunt Polly cried.
"Yes!" Henrietta answered. "Half my feathers have dropped off me. Andthat's why I've come to ask your advice. I'm fast losing my fatalbeauty."
Henrietta Hen's voice trembled as she told Aunt Polly Woodchuck thedreadful news. "I don't believe you'll be able to help me," she quavered."I'll soon look like a perfect fright. Besides, winter's coming; and howI'll ever keep warm with no feathers is more than I know."
Henrietta Hen couldn't understand how Aunt Polly managed to stay so calm.Henrietta had expected her to throw up her hands and say something like"Sakes alive!" or "Mercy on us!" But the old lady did nothing of thesort.
She set her basket down on the ground; and pushing her spectacles forwardto the end of her nose, she leaned over and looked closely at HenriettaHen. Aunt Polly's gaze travelled over Henrietta from head to foot andthen back again. And she took hold of one of Henrietta's feathers andgave it a gentle twitch.
"Look out!" Henrietta cried. "You'll pull it out if you're not careful.And I can't afford to lose any more feathers than I have to."
"Don't worry!" Aunt Polly Woodchuck advised her. "Cheer up! There'snothing the matter with you. You are molting. You are going to get a newoutfit of feathers for winter. Your old ones have to fall out in order tomake room for the new. And no doubt the fresh ones will be much handsomerthan the old."
Henrietta couldn't believe that Aunt Polly knew what she was talkingabout.
"I can't be molting as early in the fall as this," she protested. "I'venever got my winter feathers so soon.... I fear you're mistaken," shetold Aunt Polly.
"Oh, no! I'm not mistaken," Aunt Polly Woodchuck insisted. "I know it'searly for molting--but haven't you noticed that the wheat grew big thisyear, and that the bark on young trees is thick? And haven't you observedthat Frisky Squirrel is laying up a great store of nuts in his hollowtree, and that the hornets built their paper houses far from the groundthis summer?"
Henrietta Hen's mouth fell open as she stared at Aunt Polly Woodchuck.And when the old lady paused, Henrietta looked quite bewildered.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she murmured. "I don't see whatall this has to do with molting."
"Some of those signs," Aunt Polly explained, "mean an early winter; andsome of 'em mean a cold one. I've never known 'em to fail. And you'remolting early so you'll have a good warm coat of feathers by the timewinter comes."
Well, Henrietta Hen began to feel better at once. She actuallysmiled--something she had not done for days.
"Thank you! Thank you!" she said. "You're a fine doctor, Aunt Polly. Idon't wonder that folks ask your advice--especially when there's nothingthe matter with them!"
And then Henrietta Hen hurried off down the lane. Being timid abouthawks, she never felt quite comfortable far from the farmyard.
XX
A GREAT FLURRY
There was a great flurry among Farmer Green's hens. They all insisted ontalking at the same time, because they had heard an astonishing bit ofnews. It was about Henrietta Hen. Wherever she went her neighbors cranedtheir necks at her, just as if they hadn't seen her every day for as longas they could remember.
Henrietta Hen e
njoyed the notice that everybody took of her. She went tosome trouble to move about a good deal, so that all might have a chanceto stare at her. For if there was one thing she liked, it was attention.
There was a reason why Henrietta had suddenly become the most talked-ofmember of the flock. She was going to the county fair! Furthermore, sheexpected to take all her children with her. There wasn't the least doubtthat it was all true. The whole flock had heard Johnnie Green and hisfather talking about it.
Of course everybody asked Henrietta Hen a great number of questions. Whenwas she going to leave? How long did she expect to stay at the fair? Whatdid she intend to do there? Would she wear her best clothes if it rained?There was no end to such inquiries.
Unfortunately, Henrietta Hen could answer very few of them. Never havingvisited a fair, she had no idea what a fair was like. She only guessedthat when the time came, she and her family would be put into a pen,loaded upon a wagon, and jolted over the road that led to the fair,wherever it might be.
But Henrietta didn't intend to let her neighbors find out how little sheknew about fairs. She said that before starting she expected to wait forthe wagon, that she hoped to stay at the fair as long as it lasted(because she didn't want to miss anything!) and that she intended to comehome when the wagon brought her. Furthermore, she planned to wear herbest apron, anyhow, because there was sure to be fair weather at a fair!How could it be otherwise?
Old Ebenezer, the horse, told her to be sure to see the races.
"They're the best part of a fair," he said. "In my younger days I used totake part in them." And then he added, "There's nothing else at a fairthat's worth looking at."
"What about the poultry show?" Henrietta Hen asked him. She didn't knowwhat poultry shows were; but she had heard Farmer Green mention them.
"I never paid any attention to the poultry exhibit," the horse Ebenezerreplied. "I never took part in that. I suppose it might interest you,however."
Henrietta Hen smiled a knowing sort of smile. And she remarked to PollyPlymouth Rock, who stood near her, that she didn't believe the old horseknew a race from a poultry show. "If he ever went to a fair, I dare sayhe was hitched outside the fence," she sniffed.
Polly Plymouth Rock cackled with amusement. And she said something thatdispleased Henrietta Hen exceedingly.
"Are you going to take that duckling that you hatched out?" she asked.
"Certainly not!" Henrietta snapped. "Please--Miss Plymouth Rock--nevermention him again! I'm going to the fair, among strangers. And Ishouldn't care to have them know about that accident that happened tome--not for anything!"
XXI
OFF FOR THE FAIR
It seemed to Henrietta Hen that the time for the fair would never come.She had begun to feel somewhat uneasy, because she had talked so muchabout visiting the fair with her children that it would be very awkwardif she didn't go. So she was delighted one day by the noise of hammeringand sawing that came from the workbench at the end of the wagon-shed. Amerry noise it was, to Henrietta's ears; for she guessed at once what washappening. Farmer Green and his son were building a pen in which she andher family were to ride to the fair!
The news spread like fire in sun-dried grass. Henrietta Hen took painsthat it should. She told everybody she saw that she expected to leave atany moment. And she began to say good-by to all her friends.
Since Henrietta didn't start for the fair that day, before nightfall shehad bade every one farewell at least a dozen times. And when, thefollowing dawn, Henrietta started the day not by saying "Good morning!"but by bidding her neighbors "Good-by!" once more, they began to thinkher a bit tiresome.
"What! Haven't you gone yet?" they asked her.
"No! But I expect to leave at any moment," Henrietta told them. She wasso excited that she couldn't eat her breakfast. But her chicks had nosuch trouble. And perhaps it was just as well that Henrietta Hen had herhands full looking after them and trying to keep them all under her eye,and spick-and-span for the journey. Otherwise she would have been in moreof a flutter than she was.
While Henrietta had an eye on her children, she tried to keep the otheron the barn. And after what seemed to her hours of watching and waiting,she saw Johnnie Green lead the old horse Ebenezer out of the door, withhis harness on. Henrietta promptly forgot her stately manners. She ransqualling across the farmyard and called to Ebenezer, "Where are yougoing?"
"I understand that I'm going to the fair," he told her, as Johnnie Greenbacked him between the thills of a wagon. "Once I would have been hitchedto a light buggy, with a sulky tied behind it. But now I've got to takeyou and your family in this rattlety old contraption."
Henrietta Hen didn't wait to hear any more. She turned and hurried back,to gather her youngsters and bid everybody another farewell.
Amid a great clucking and squawking, Johnnie Green and his father putHenrietta and her chicks into the pen and placed it in the back of thewagon.
"We're all ready!" Henrietta cried to Ebenezer. The old horse didn't eventurn his head, for he could see backwards as well as forwards, because hewore no blinders. He made no direct reply to Henrietta, though he gave asort of grunt, as if the whole affair did not please him. He knew that itwas a long distance to the fairgrounds and the road was hilly.
"_She_ thinks it a lark," he said to the dog Spot, who hung about as ifhe were waiting for something. "She's lucky, for she won't have to go onher own legs, for miles and miles."
"That's just what I intend to do," Spot informed him. "They don't mean totake me. But I'm going to follow you, right under the wagon, whereJohnnie Green and his father can't see me."
So they started off. And they had scarcely passed through the gate whenHenrietta began to clamor in her shrillest tones. But nobody paid anyheed to her. The wagon clattered off down the road. And old dog Spotsmiled to himself as he trotted along beneath it.
"Henrietta just remembered that she forgot to put on her best apron," hechuckled.
XXII
ALMOST HOMESICK
Never in all her life had Henrietta Hen seen so many hens and roostersand chicks as she found on every side of her, at the fair. Farmer Greenand his son Johnnie had set her pen in the Poultry Hall. And toHenrietta's surprise, none of her new neighbors paid much attention toher and her chicks--at first. She soon decided that there was a reasonfor this neglect. She made up her mind that she would have to makeherself heard amid all that uproar or the others would never know she hadarrived.
Luckily Henrietta had a strong voice. She used it to the utmost. And itwasn't long before a huge hen in a pen next hers gave her a bold look andasked, "What are you here for?"
"I've come to get the first prize," Henrietta answered calmly. She hadlistened carefully to what Farmer Green and Johnnie had said to eachother during the journey from the farm. And already she knew somethingabout fairs.
Her new neighbor laughed right in Henrietta's face.
"I don't see how you can win the first prize," she said with a sniff."I'm going to get the first prize myself. There never was another suchfine family as mine." She glanced proudly at her chicks as she spoke."The best you can hope for," she told Henrietta, "is the second prize.And you'll be lucky if you get the third."
For once Henrietta Hen was at a loss for a retort.
"I don't believe you've ever been at a fair before," her new neighborobserved.
Henrietta admitted faintly that she hadn't.
"Last year I won second prize," said the other. "I'd have had the firstif the judges had known their business."
Henrietta Hen began to feel very shaky in her legs. She had expected adifferent sort of greeting, when she should arrive at the fair. She hadthought everybody would exclaim, "Here comes Henrietta Hen! What a finefamily of chicks she has! And aren't Mrs. Hen's speckles beautiful?"
And there she was, with nobody paying any heed to her, except the loftydame in the next pen, who had said nothing very agreeable.
"Oh, dear!" Henrietta sighed. "I wish I'd never left home."
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"What's that?" her neighbor inquired in a sharp tone. "You aren'thomesick, are you?"
"N-no!" said Henrietta. "But I had expected to win the first prize. And Idon't know what my friends will say when I come back home without it."
"Well, everybody can't win it," said her new acquaintance. "Not the sameyear, anyhow!" And then she looked Henrietta up and down for a fewmoments, while Henrietta squirmed uneasily. "Where do you come from?" sheasked at last.
"I live on Farmer Green's place, in Pleasant Valley," Henrietta informedher.
The lady in the next pen shook her head. "I've never heard of PleasantValley," she remarked, "nor of Farmer Green. He must be small potatoes."
Well, Henrietta was astonished. She began to feel as if she were nobodyat all. She had supposed that everybody knew of Pleasant Valley--and ofFarmer Green, too. As for the remark, "small potatoes," she didn'tunderstand it at all. So she inquired what it meant.
"It means," said her neighbor, "that Farmer Green can't be of muchaccount."
That speech made Henrietta Hen almost lose her temper.
"Mr. Green," she cried, "is a fine man. And I'll have you know that Iwouldn't live anywhere but on his farm!"
XXIII
GETTING ACQUAINTED
Not liking her neighbor on her right, at the fair, Henrietta Hen sidledup to the wire netting on the opposite side of her pen. Peering throughit, she examined the person whom she saw just beyond, in a pen of herown.