luk mooar disgusted i' mi life when it lukked i' th' nest an' see as it
hed hed all that trouble fer nowt.

"It woked reawnd th' nest as if it couldn't believe its own eyes.

"But it dudn't do as aw expected. Aw expected as it 'ud sit deawn ageean
an' lay another.

"But it just gi'e one wonderin' sooart o' chuck, an then, after a long
stare reawnd th' hen-coyt, it woked eawt, as mad a hen as aw've ever sin.
Aw fun' eawt after, what th' long stare meant. It were tekkin' farewell!
For if yo'll believe me that hen never laid another egg i' ony o' my
nests.

"Varra like it laid away in a spot wheear it could hev summat to luk at
when it hed done wark for th' day.

"Sooa aw lost mi best layer through mi actin', an' aw've never invented
owt sen."




CHAPTER VI


One learns to be modest by living on a poultry farm, for there are
constant expositions of the most deplorable vanity among the cocks. We
have a couple of pea-fowl who certainly are an addition to the landscape,
as they step mincingly along the square of turf we dignify by the name of