Читать книгу The Nursery, February 1873, Vol. XIII. - Various - Страница 3

I was one of a family of nine brothers and sisters. We all found ourselves outside our shells one fine, sunny day in spring; but we felt chilly, and were glad to nestle under the wings of the kind old hen whom we regarded as our mother.

In a day or two, we began to look about the world. We found that it comprised a pretty lawn, on which our mansion was placed, with a brick wall at one end of it. The other end of the world was at the foot of the lawn, and consisted of a level expanse as smooth as a sheet of glass.

Our mansion was formed of wood, with a high pointed roof, and with open bars in front, through which we could look out and enjoy the prospect. We could crawl under the bars easily; but mother-hen could not.

One day a great, strong giant came and lifted up our mansion right over our heads. This giant had two legs, but no wings. Poor thing! They called him a little boy. He frightened us very much at first; but as he fed us, and called us, "Ducky, ducky!" we soon grew fond of him.

When the boy had lifted up our mansion (which he called a coop), mother-hen started at once on a journey round the world. We stopped to pick up some bits of grain, and some little worms, which we found. "Cluck, cluck!" said mother-hen, which means, "Come, come!" and we all said, "Quack, quack!" which means, "Yes, yes!"

On we went, threading our way through the forest of grass; and our ideas were much enlarged by finding that the world comprised a vast farm-yard as well as our lawn, and the distant glass-like boundary. On we went, "Cluck, cluck! quack, quack!" and at last found ourselves close to the smooth expanse, which we learned was called a pond, and composed of a beautiful liquid called "water."

Into this pond my brothers and sisters dashed, and of course I followed. How delicious! The water was cool and refreshing, and so buoyant, that we moved about on it more easily than we could walk on the land; but, when we looked back to the bank, we saw mother-hen calling out in grief and dread, "Cluck, cluck! come, come! you'll drown, drown! Oh, oh!"

"All right!" said my eldest brother; "no fear: here we are as jolly as sandboys! You may as well come. It's capital. Here goes for a dive!" And, so saying, under he went, and soon came up again, laughing, "Quack, quack! oh, it's so jolly!"

But poor mother-hen did not see any thing jolly about it, and was always in fear when we went to the pond, into which she would never go herself.

In time we grew up, and found that we could actually fly in the air. Oh, capital! When that horrible monster with four legs, which they called "a dog," ran after us, we opened our wings, and flew over the lawn to the pond. And there stood the stupid dog bawling out, "Bow, wow! bow, wow!"

One day our ideas were again expanded by our being driven through a gate. We then found that the world was much larger than we had thought; for beyond our wall was a broad ploughed field, as well as a vast forest, the edges of which touched the distant sky. Wonderful discovery! How grand a duck feels when gaining useful knowledge!

Every thing went on pleasantly enough, until a great awkward giant, named Bob, came and looked very hard at us. At first we did not like him; but he was really very kind, and called us "Ducky, ducky, ducky!" and threw us handfuls of barley. He then seized two or three of my fattest brothers and sisters, and frightened them so much, that they called out, "Quack, quack! don't, don't!" But they need not have made such a fuss, as he put them safely in a basket with a lid to it to keep off the rain, and took a great deal of care of them indeed.