On pleasant afternoons your Aunt Amy dearly loves to wander down by the
side of the pond, which lies just beyond the apple orchard, and there
meet her bird or animal friends, of whom she has many, and all of them
are ready to tell her stories.
[Illustration: The Gray Goose.]
There it is she sees Mr. Frisky Squirrel, old Mr. Plodding Turtle, Mr.
Bunny Rabbit, and many others; but never until yesterday did she make
the acquaintance of the gray goose, and then it was owing to Master
Teddy's mischief that she found a new friend among the dwellers on the
farm.
Your Aunt Amy was walking slowly along on the lookout for some bird or
animal who might be in the mood for story-telling, when she heard an
angry hissing, which caused her to start in alarm, thinking a snake was
in her path, and, to her surprise, she saw two geese who were scolding
violently in their own peculiar fashion.
One was the gray goose, who afterward became very friendly, and the
other, a white gander from the farm on the opposite side of the road.
[Illustration: An Angry Pair.]
"What is the matter?" your Aunt Amy asked, as the geese continued to
hiss angrily without giving any heed to her, and Mrs. Gray Goose ceased
her scolding sufficiently long to say sharply:
"It's that Mr. Man's boy Teddy; he never comes into the farm-yard
without raising a disturbance of some kind, and I for one am sick of so
much nonsense."
Your Aunt Amy looked quickly around; but without seeing any signs of the
boy who had tried Mrs. Goose's temper so sadly, and, quite naturally,
she asked:
"What has he been doing now, and where is he?"
"Down in the meadow, or, he was there when Mr. Gander and I were driven
out by his foolish actions," and Mrs. Goose continued to hiss at the
full strength of her lungs.
[Illustration: Mr. Crow.]
"If he is so far away your scolding will do no good, because he can't
hear it," your Aunt Amy said, finding it difficult to prevent herself
from actually laughing in the angry bird's face.
"Some of the other people on this farm can hear me, and thus know that I
do not approve of such actions," Mrs. Goose replied sharply. "Since Mr.
Crow began to write poetry about Young Teddy, the boy thinks he can
chase us around whenever he pleases. He'll kill Mrs. Cow's baby, if he
isn't careful."
"Do you know Mr. Crow?" your Aunt Amy asked in surprise, for every bird
or animal she had met seemed to be on friendly terms with the old fellow
who spent the greater portion of his time in the big oak tree near the
pond.
"Of course I know him," Mrs. Goose replied as she ceased scolding and
came nearer your Aunt Amy, while Mr. Gander sat down close at hand as if
listening to what was said. "Teddy has been trying for nearly a week to
use that poor calf as if the baby was a horse--that's what he's doing
now, and Mr. Crow wrote some poetry about it. Of course old Mamma
Speckle must run straight to Teddy Boy with it, and since then he has
been carrying on worse than ever."