100 
THE STRANGELAND BIRD LIFE 
to sit right still and go to sleep, just as he always 
had done with his really-truly mother. 
But he was not allowed to do that, for 
the moment the other childless Penguins saw 
what had happened there was an-uproar. We 
know that the old robber had stolen many 
eggs from this Penguin town, and had caught 
some of the little folks that lived there, so that 
there were very many childless mothers. And 
there are no more motherly people in the world 
than these very Penguin women. If they have 
no child of their own they are altogether too 
willing to take some other person’s child to 
nurse. That was just where the trouble arose 
and things indeed went very bad for Mannie. 
“You can’t have him, you give him to me,” 
said one motherly old dame. 
“I won’t, he’s mine,” said the one which 
was holding him, poking her nose at the other. 
That was a sign for battle, and in a moment 
Mannie found himself tumbled out on the ice. 
