The Gray Goose's Story Part 3

"When he had got inside the house Mr. Rooster crept out from under the barn, and crowed up to Mr. Turkey: 'Do you-think-he's-gone-for goo-o-o-d?'

"And the suspicious Mr. Turkey gobbled back:

"'Doubtful! Doubtful! Doubtful! Doubtful!'

"That Mr. Rooster had a good deal more sense than our Mr. Dorking, who made such a fool of himself last summer. It isn't much of a story; but it shows how silly some people are," and once more Mrs. Goose looked at Mr. Gander.

WHEN THE ROOSTER FOUND THE MOON.

"I would like very much to hear the story," your Aunt Amy said, and she spoke the truth, for thus far Mrs. Goose had been most entertaining.

"It's kind of you to say so," Mrs. Goose replied with a smirk. "If I keep on at this rate you'll think I like to talk as well as Mamma Speckle does; but I've heard of you so often from our people around here, that it seemed as if I must have a whole lot of stories to tell, else you'd say I wasn't much of anybody after all. But about Mr. Dorking Rooster: it seems that one night he couldn't sleep, on account of having eaten too much, and for the first time in his life he saw the moon and the stars.

"The next day, when he was going across the front yard, he saw one of those large rubber b.a.l.l.s, painted in bright colors, such as Mr. Man's children use to play with in the house, and after looking it over carefully he decided that he knew what it was.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Dorking Finds the Moon.]

"'This must be the moon I saw last night,' he said to himself; 'but it don't seem to s.h.i.+ne as it did then. Perhaps it doesn't give out any light till after sunset, so I'll wait till then to see it.'

"So Mr. Dorking sat down and waited. The sun set, and black clouds covered the sky, but, yet the ball did not s.h.i.+ne. All the other chickens had gone to roost hours before; but Mr. Dorking kept on watching. It began to rain; the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled. The rooster was wet to the skin, and terribly frightened.

"'I'll save the moon,' he cried, and picking up the ball in his beak, which wasn't an easy task, he ran as fast as he could to the hen-house; but when he got there the storm had cleared away. Looking up, Mr.

Dorking saw the moon in the sky, and throwing the ball into the house, he cried out to his wife:

"'What kind of a thing is this, anyway? I've been lugging it around for an hour or more, and now there's another moon come to take its place.'

"'Come straight up here to your roost, you foolish old thing.' Mrs.

Dorking said angrily. 'If you had half as much sense as Mr. Monkey, you could have taken the children and me on a picnic, instead of fooling your time away with a rubber ball.'

"What did she mean by 'having as much sense as Mr. Monkey,'" your Aunt Amy asked, and Mrs. Goose replied:

WHEN MRS. MONKEY WAS DISSATISFIED.

"Oh, it was an idea she got from some of Mr. Crow's poetry. All the fowls on our farm have laughed at it time and time again. This is the way it goes:

Said old Mrs. Monk one morning, "Look at me.

I am tired of living in this cocoa tree, You have got to go to work and rent a flat, For I'll not live in this manner, mind you that."

Then when Mister Monkey heard all that she said, He thought of many trades, and scratched his head What on earth could monkeys do to bring in gold So a loving monkey wifey wouldn't scold?

Now what do you suppose the Monkey did?

Do you think he climbed the cocoa tree and hid?

No; upon a jungle trolley he is there Hanging by his legs and tail collecting fare."

Mrs. Goose would have been blind if she had not seen that your Aunt Amy thought the jingle was very foolish, and she hastened to say:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mr. Monkey listening to his Wife.]

HOW BUNNY RABBIT FOOLED GRANDFATHER STORK.

"I guess you think the same as does Grandfather Stork about some of Mr.

Crow's verses. He says that n.o.body but foolish geese would listen to them, and yet there isn't anybody around here who doesn't like them.

Grandfather Stork don't know everything there is to be learned in this world, else Mr. Bunny Rabbit couldn't have fooled him the way he did."

"I have never heard that Mr. Bunny Rabbit fooled Grandfather Stork," your Aunt Amy said, and Mrs. Goose almost laughed when she replied:

"Then you haven't seen the old fellow lately, for he spends all his time running around the neighborhood telling of it. He thinks he was very smart, and I'm not saying but that it was more than one would have expected of him, for Mr. Bunny Rabbit isn't the wisest animal living near the pond, by a good deal. Poor old Grandfather Stork was the most harmless bird that ever lived. He had carried babies from one place to another till he was all worn out, and hadn't more than six feathers left on his head.

"He hadn't a tooth to his bill, and seemed to have forgotten how to hunt for his dinner, so one day when he met Bunny Rabbit, he said to him as polite as could be:

"'Good morning, Mr. Rabbit. Can you tell me where I'll find two or three fat fish near about here?'

[Ill.u.s.tration: Grandfather Stork waiting for his dinner.]

"Bunny scratched his nose as if he was doing a terrible lot of thinking, and then said, solemn as ever was Squire Owl:

"'Why, of course, Mr. Stork, and I always like to help a neighbor along.

But times have changed since you were a young fellow. Then you had to catch your own fish, or go without; but now the law is that after a bird has stood on one foot half an hour, two fish jump down his throat, and three more go the same way at the end of an hour. Mr. Robin Red-Breast forgot all about the new law the other day, and, because his left foot was sore, he stood on the right one till two big pickerel made a leap for his mouth. Either of them was seven times as big as he is, and it's a wonder he wasn't killed.'

"'Dear me, is that so, Mr. Rabbit? Now I really can't catch fish as I used to; but it comes quite natural for me to stand on one foot. I'll try to do you a favor some day, Mr. Rabbit.'

"Then Grandfather Stork stood up in the sun waiting for the fish to jump down his throat, and Bunny Rabbit ran off into the bushes, laughing till there was danger of splitting his sides; but he didn't keep it up very long, for just then down swooped Mr. Hawk, and Bunny Rabbit came very near taking an excursion in the air.

"As it was, Mr. Hawk dug a great hole in his back, and nipped off a piece of his tail, before Bunny could get under a wild-rose bush where he was safe. It was Mr. Crow who told Grandfather Stork that he had been fooled, and the poor old fellow looked so sorrowful when he hobbled away without having had any dinner, that I made up my mind I never would try to play such kind of jokes."

"And you are right, Mrs. Goose," your Aunt Amy said decidedly. "It is a very foolish practice, and often causes much trouble. Now Bunny Rabbit really told Mr. Stork a lie, even if it was in sport, and we all know how wrong that is."

At this moment Mr. Grander came up, and when Mrs. Goose asked how he felt, he said:

"I'm better, thank you. That frog was tough, and, to make matters worse, I accidentally swallowed his hat."

"You were in too much of a hurry, Mr. Gander," Mrs. Goose said sharply.

"Perhaps you was afraid you might be asked to share him with some other goose."

"Well, there! I never stopped to think that you might like a piece," Mr.

Gander said, as if he felt terribly sorry because of having been so selfish. "I'll spend all day to-morrow hunting for Mr. Frog's brother, and if I catch the fellow, you shall have the whole of him."