As the youngsters grow, I'm sure they'll get handsomer every day."

The neighbors thanked her. And crowding about old Whitey they moved away.
Old Whitey just had to go too. She couldn't help spluttering a little.

"What a vain, empty-headed creature Henrietta Hen is!" she exclaimed.
"She doesn't know that one of her brood is nothing but a duckling!"




III

WET FEET


Somehow Henrietta Hen never noticed that one of her brood was different
from the rest. They were her first youngsters and they all looked
beautiful to her.

Just as soon as Henrietta began to take her children for strolls about
the farmyard she taught them a number of things. She showed them how to
scratch in the dirt for food, how to drink by raising their heads and
letting the water trickle down their throats. She bade them beware of
hawks--and of Miss Kitty Cat, too. And she was always warning them to
keep their feet dry.

"Water's good for nothing except to drink," Henrietta informed her
chicks. "Some strange people, like old dog Spot, jump right into it. And
how they manage to keep well is more than I can understand. Dust baths