14 



She goes hop, hopping up the stairs, and then 

 flies upon this dressing table. There she walks up 

 and down and pecks at the rings and brooches to 

 try if they are good to eat. 



What interests her most of all, however, is the 

 reflection of herself in the looking-glass. She 

 thinks it is another little brown hen just her own 

 size. She looks at it and talks to it, and every time 

 she lifts her foot or turns her head that other little 

 hen in the mirror does exactly the same. Often 

 after she has talked to it for awhile she walks to the 

 corner of the looking-glass and looks around back 

 of it. Nothing there ! Little Brown Hen gives a 

 surprised cluck and steps back, and there directly in 

 front of her is the hen again. 



She never gets over the surprise of it. 



Little Brown Hen used to be very eager to raise 

 a brood. She was always trying to sit, but we 

 did not want her to hatch any of her eggs. We 

 did not want more Bantams. 



It was a longtime before Little Brown Hen 

 would believe that we were so unkind. Again and 

 again her eggs were taken from her, but again and 

 again she laid more and began to sit. 



No doubt, as she sat cuddling her small eggs 



