"What did he mean by that?" your Aunt Amy asked, and Mrs. Goose really
laughed as she replied:
"It was a silly trick Mr. Man's boy Tommy played on Mr. and Mrs. Stork,
who had built a nest on the top of the farm-house chimney. I had nine
babies, while the Storks only hatched out one, and they were all exactly
the same age.
"Tommy Boy, who never has work enough to keep him out of mischief,
thought it would be very funny to put one of my babies in the Storks'
nest, and leave their little one with me, so he got a ladder, and came
very near breaking his bones in order to make the change while Mrs.
Stork was away looking for food.
"When she came back, there was my dear little gosling sitting up on his
tail as if he expected to have his picture taken, trying to tell what
Tommy had done.
"Of course Mrs. Stork couldn't understand a word my dear little gosling
said, because he didn't talk plain owing to having no teeth, and she
sent in a hurry for her husband to come and find out what had happened
to their baby.
[Illustration: Baby Gosling Tries to Explain.]
"I got so nervous while the Storks were trying to decide whether to kill
my poor little gosling by pecking him, or throwing him out of the nest,
that I nearly had a fit, and suppose I must have made a terrible noise,
for Mr. Man came running up to learn what the matter was. It didn't take
him many minutes to understand it all, when Johnny was forced to undo
the mischief, and take a sound whipping afterward, much to my delight
and satisfaction."
At this moment Mr. Gander came into view, evidently very much excited,
and said something which your Aunt Amy could not understand.
"I must go over to the oak tree, and you had better come too," Mrs. Gray
Goose said hurriedly. "Mr. Crow has just made up some new poetry, and is
going to read it. Can't you go with me?"
Your Aunt Amy was not in the mood for hearing any more of Mr. Crow's
verses, after Mrs. Goose had recited so many, and she went slowly
homeward, while Mrs. Gray Goose followed Mr. Gander, hissing complaints
as she waddled along, because he had not invited her to have a portion
of the frog he swallowed whole.
[Illustration: Mrs. Gray Goose Complains.]