"No."

"Then you will please have no opinion of your own when sensible folks
are speaking!"

And the Duckling sat in a corner and was in low spirits; then he began
to think of the fresh air and the sunshine; and he was seized with such
a strange longing to swim on the water, that he could not help telling
the Hen of it.

"What are you thinking of?" cried the Hen. "You have nothing to do,
that's why you have these fancies. Lay eggs, or purr, and they will
pass over."

"But it is so charming to swim in the water," said the Duckling, "so
nice to feel it go over one's head, and to dive down to the bottom!"

"Yes, that's a fine thing, truly," said the Hen. "You are clean gone
crazy. Ask the Cat about it,--he's the cleverest thing I know,--ask him
if he likes to swim in the water, or to dive down: I won't speak about
myself. Ask our mistress herself, the old woman; no one in the world
knows more than she. Do you think she wants to swim, and let the water
close above her head?"

"You don't understand me," said the Duckling.

"We don't understand you! Then pray who is to understand you? You surely
don't pretend to be cleverer than the Cat and the woman--I won't say
anything of myself. Don't make a fool of yourself, child, and thank your