XII

PLAYING TRICKS


Now, the hen known as old Whitey was something of a gossip. She went
straight to the farmyard and told everybody what had happened--what
Henrietta Hen had said to her and what she had said to Henrietta Hen. The
whole flock had a great laugh over the affair.

To Henrietta Hen's delight, all her neighbors took a keen interest in the
wonderful white egg. They asked her countless questions about it. Above
all, they always took pains to inquire whether she had been so unlucky as
to crack the shell. And if Henrietta hadn't displeased Polly Plymouth
Rock one day, the truth might never have come out.

Anyhow, Polly Plymouth Rock told Henrietta Hen that if she had any sense
she would stop making such a fuss over a china egg.

"China egg!" cried Henrietta. "I don't know what you mean."

"That's not a real egg that you're so proud of," Polly Plymouth Rock
declared. "It's nothing but a make-believe one. Johnnie Green left it in
your nest to fool you, so you'd keep that nest and lay eggs in it, right
along.... You're so careful not to break that china egg! Why, if you
_tried_ to break it you'd find that it's solid as a rock."

Henrietta Hen couldn't believe the terrible news.