XXI

OFF FOR THE FAIR


It seemed to Henrietta Hen that the time for the fair would never come.
She had begun to feel somewhat uneasy, because she had talked so much
about visiting the fair with her children that it would be very awkward
if she didn't go. So she was delighted one day by the noise of hammering
and sawing that came from the workbench at the end of the wagon-shed. A
merry noise it was, to Henrietta's ears; for she guessed at once what was
happening. Farmer Green and his son were building a pen in which she and
her family were to ride to the fair!

The news spread like fire in sun-dried grass. Henrietta Hen took pains
that it should. She told everybody she saw that she expected to leave at
any moment. And she began to say good-by to all her friends.

Since Henrietta didn't start for the fair that day, before nightfall she
had bade every one farewell at least a dozen times. And when, the
following dawn, Henrietta started the day not by saying "Good morning!"
but by bidding her neighbors "Good-by!" once more, they began to think
her a bit tiresome.

"What! Haven't you gone yet?" they asked her.

"No! But I expect to leave at any moment," Henrietta told them. She was
so excited that she couldn't eat her breakfast. But her chicks had no