前言

秘方简介

常用词列表

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 1. A SPECKLED BEAUTY

Henrietta Hen thought highly of her‧self 她自己. Not only did she consider her‧self 她自己 a "speckled beauty" (to use her own words) but she had an excellent opinion of her own ways, her own ideas—even of her own belongings. When she pulled a fat worm 虫—or a grub—out of the ground grind she did it with an air of pride 自尊; and she was almost sure to say, "There! I'd like to see any‧body 任何人 else find a bigger one than that!"

Of course, it wouldn't really have pleased her at all to have one of her neighbors do better than she did. That was only her way of boasting 自夸 that no one could beat her.

If any one happened to mention speckles Henrietta Hen was certain to speak of her own, claiming that they were the hand‧some 英俊 and most speckly to be found in Pleasant Valley. And if a person chanced to say anything about combs 梳子, Henrietta never failed to announce 宣布 that hers was the reddest and most beautiful 美丽 in the whole world.

Nobody could ever find out how she knew that. She had never been off the farm. But it was use‧less 无用 to remind her that she had never travelled. Such a remark only made her angry 生气的.

Having such a good opinion of her‧self 她自己, Henrietta Hen always had a great deal to talk about. She kept up a constant 不变 cluck from dawn 黎明 till 到 dusk 黄昏. It made no difference to her whether she happened to be alone, or with friends. She talked just the same—though naturally 自然地 she preferred to have others hear what she said, because she considered her remarks most important.

There were times when Henrietta Hen took pains that all her neighbors should hear her. She was never so proud as when she had a newly 最近，新近-laid egg 鸡蛋 to exhibit 展示. Then an ordinary cluck was not loud 响亮的 enough to express her feelings. To announce 宣布 such important news Henrietta Hen never failed to raise her voice in a high-pitched 沥青 "Cut-cut-cut, ca-dah-cut!" This interesting speech she always repeated several times. For she wanted everybody to know that Henrietta Hen had laid another of her famous 著名 eggs 鸡蛋.

After such an event she always went about asking people if they had heard the news—just as if they could have helped hearing her silly 愚蠢 racket 球拍!

Now, it sometimes happened, when she was on such an errand 使命, that Henrietta Hen met with snubs. Now and then her question—"Have you heard the news?"—brought some such sallies as these: "Polly Plymouth Rock has just laid an enormous 巨大 egg 鸡蛋! Have you seen it?" Or maybe, "Don't be disappointed 使失望, Henrietta! Somebody has to lay lie the littlest ones!"

Such jibes were certain to make Henrietta Hen lose her temper 性情. And she would talk very fast (and, alas 唉! very loud 响亮的, too) about jealous 妒忌的 neighbors and how unpleasant 不愉快 it was to live among folk 民间 that were so stingy of their praise 赞扬 that they couldn't say a good word for the finest eggs that ever were seen! On such occasions Henrietta Hen generally talked in a lofty 高远 way about moving to the village to live.

"They think enough of my eggs down there," she would boast 自夸. "Boiled, fried 油炸；炒, poached 偷猎, scrambled 争夺, or for an omelette—my eggs can't be beaten beat."

"If the villagers 村民 can't beat your eggs they certainly can't use them for omelettes," Polly Plymouth Rock told Henrietta one day. "Everybody knows you have to beat eggs to make an omelette."

Henrietta Hen didn't know what to say to that. It was almost the only time she was ever known to be silent.

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Chapter 2. A FINE FAMILY

Henrietta Hen's neighbors paid little attention to her boasting, because they had to listen to it so often. At last, however, there came a day when she set up such a cackling as they had never heard from her before. She kept calling out at the top of her lungs 肺, "Come-come-come! See-what-I've-got! Come-come-come! See-what-I've-got!" And she acted even more important than ever, until her friends began to say to one another, "What can Henrietta be so proud about? If it's only another egg, she's making a terrible fuss 小题大作 about it."

They decided at last that if they were to have any peace they'd better go and look at whatever it was that Henrietta Hen was squawking about. So they went—in a body—to the place where she had her nest （鸟）窝, in the haymow.

When Henrietta caught catch sight of her visitors 访问者 she set up a greater clamor 叫嚣 than ever.

"Well, well!" cried the oldest of the party, a rather sharp-tongued 舌头 dame with white feathers 羽毛. "What's all this hubbub about?" And then they learned learn what it was that Henrietta wanted them to see.

"Did you ever set eyes on such a fine family?" she demanded as she stepped aside from her nest （鸟）窝 and let them peer 窥视 into it.

"A brood 窝 of chicks 小鸡—eh?" said the lady in white. "Well, what's all the noise 噪音 about?"

Henrietta Hen turned her back on her questioner.

"I knew you'd all want to have a look at these prize 奖赏 youngsters 青少年," she said to the rest of the company. "You'll agree with me, of course, that there were never any other chicks 小鸡 as hand‧some 英俊 as these."

Henrietta's neighbors all crowded up to gaze 凝视 upon the soft balls of down.

"This is the first family you've hatched 孵化, isn't it?" Polly Plymouth Rock inquired 打听.

Henrietta Hen said that it was her first brood 窝.

Her neighbors wanted to be pleasant. So they told her that her children were as fine youngsters 青少年 as any‧body 任何人 could ask for. And the old white dame, squinting at the nestlings 贴近, said to Henrietta:

"They're the finest you've ever had.... But there's one of them that has a queer 奇怪 look."

All the other visitors tried to hush 嘘 her up. They didn't want to hurt 损害 Henrietta Hen's feelings. It was her first brood 窝 of chicks 小鸡; and they could for‧give 原谅 her for thinking them the best in the whole world. So when they saw that old Whitey intended to be disagree‧able 不同意‧能够的 they began to cluck their approval 批准；同意；赞成 of the youngsters 青少年, hoping that Henrietta wouldn't notice what Whitey said.

Nor did she. Henrietta Hen was altogether 全部地 too pleased with her‧self 她自己 and her new family to pay much attention to anybody else's remarks.

"I hope," said Henrietta, "that you'll all come to see my family often. As the youngsters 青少年 grow, I'm sure they'll get hand‧some 英俊 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 徒劳的, empty-headed creature 动物；生物 Henrietta Hen is!" she exclaimed 喊叫. "She doesn't know that one of her brood 窝 is nothing but a duckling!"

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Chapter 3. WET FEET

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

Just as soon as Henrietta began to take her children for strolls 漫步 about the farm‧yard 农场‧院子 she taught teach them a number of things. She showed them how to scratch 刮 in the dirt for food, how to drink by raising their heads and letting the water trickle 潺 down their throats. She bade them beware 谨防 of hawks 鹰—and of Miss Kitty Cat 猫, too. And she was always warning them to keep their feet dry.

"Water's good for nothing except to drink," Henrietta informed her chicks 小鸡. "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 沐浴 are the only safe ones."

So much did she fear water that Henrietta Hen wouldn't even let her children walk in the grass 草 until the sun had dried the morning's dew. And the first sprinkle 撒 of rain was enough to send her scurrying for cover, calling frantically 疯狂 for her chicks 小鸡 to hurry.

Now, there was one of her family that always lagged 落后 behind when the rain-drops began to fall. And often Henrietta had fairly to drive him away from a puddle of water. She sometimes remarked with a sigh 叹 that he gave her more trouble than all the rest of her children together.

This was the youngster 青少年 that Mrs. Hen's neighbors told one another was different from his brothers and sisters 姐妹. But poor Henrietta Hen only knew that he was unusually 异常 hard to manage.

As her family grew grow bigger, Henrietta Hen took them on longer strolls 漫步, always casting 种姓 a careful 小心 eye aloft now and then, lest 免得 some hawk 鹰 should swoop 落下 down upon her darlings 宠儿. And though no hawk 鹰 tried to surprise her, something happened one day that gave Henrietta almost as great a fright 恐怖 as any cruel 残酷的 hawk 鹰 could have caused her.

They had strayed 流浪 down by the duck 鸭子-pond 池塘—had Henrietta and her children, stopping here and there to scratch 刮 for some tidbit, or to flutter 扑 in an inviting dust-heap 堆. Once they had reached the bank of the pond 池塘 Henrietta began to wish she hadn't brought her family in that direction. For one of the youngsters 青少年—the one that never would hurry in out of the rain—insisted 咬定 on toddling down to the water's edge.

"Come away this instant 瞬间!" Henrietta shrieked 尖叫, as soon as she noticed where he was. "You'll get your feet wet 湿的 the first thing you know."

She never said anything truer than that. The words were scarcely 缺乏的 out of her bill when the odd 奇 member of her family flung himself into the water. Or to be more exact, he flung himself upon it; for he floated 漂浮 on the surface as easily as a chip 芯片 and began to paddle 桨 about as if he had swum 游泳:swim all his life.

"Come back! Come back!" Henrietta Hen shrieked 尖叫. "You'll be drowned 淹死—and you'll get your feet wet 湿的!"

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Chapter 4. A SWIMMER

Henrietta Hen ran as fast as she could down the bank and stood as near the water as she dared 敢, cackling loudly 响亮的 and flapping 拍打 her wings 翅膀.

Her child, who was swimming 游泳 in the duck 鸭子-pond 池塘, seemed to have no intention of minding her. Nor did he seem to have any intention of drowning 淹死; and as for getting his feet wet, he acted as if he liked that.

"What shall I do? Oh, what shall I do?" Henrietta Hen squawked. She made so much noise 噪音 that some of her neighbors came a-running, to see what was the matter. And as soon as they discovered what had happened they began to laugh.

"We may as well tell you," they said to Henrietta Hen, "that that chap 皴裂 out there is a duckling. The water won win't hurt 损害 him."

Henrietta Hen gasped 喘气 and gaped 盱；目瞪口呆. She was astonished 使惊讶. But she soon pulled her‧self 她自己 together. And it was just like her to begin to boast 自夸.

"See!" she cried to her friends, and waved a wing 翅膀 toward the water with an air of pride 自尊. "There isn't one of you that has a child that can beat him swimming."

"I should hope not!" said Polly Plymouth Rock with a shrug 耸 of her fine shoulders. And all the others agreed that they wanted no swimmers 游泳者 in their families.

Henrietta Hen announced 宣布 that she was sorry 对不起的 for them. "Every brood 窝," she declared, "should have at least one swimmer 游泳 in it." She began to strut 支撑 up and down the edge of the duck 鸭子-pond 池塘, clucking in a most overbearing fashion. Really, she had never felt quite so important before—not even when her first brood 窝 pecked 啄 their way out of their shells 壳.

"There's nothing quite like swimming," Henrietta Hen remarked with a silly 愚蠢 smirk. "If it weren't for getting my feet wet I'd be tempted 引诱 to learn myself 我. No doubt my son could teach me."

"Your son!" the old white hen 母鸡 sniffed 吸气. "He's not your son, Henrietta Hen. Somebody played a joke 笑话 on you. Somebody put a duck 3's egg under you while you were hatching 孵化 your eggs. And I think I can guess who it was that did it."

For just a moment Henrietta Hen stood still. The news almost took her breath away. Her comb 梳子 trembled 发抖 on the top of her head. She even stopped clucking. And she looked from one to another of her companions 同伴 as if in hopes of finding one face, at least, that looked doubtful 疑.... Alas! Everybody appeared to agree with old Whitey.

"If this is so," Henrietta muttered 咕哝 at last, "it's strange nobody ever noticed before that there was a duckling in my brood 窝."

"We knew from the very first!" Polly Plymouth Rock told her. "You were the only one on the farm that didn't see that one of your family was different from the rest."

All this time the young duckling was swimming further and further away. He seemed to have forgotten forget all about his foster 培育 mother.

Henrietta Hen took one long last look at him. She guessed that she might have stood there for‧ever 永远 cackling for him to come back and he wouldn't have paid the slightest heed to her.

Then she gathered her children—her really own—about her. "Come!" she said to them, "We'll go back home now."

"What about him?" they demanded, pointing to the truant duckling who was bobbing 短发 about on the rippling 波纹 water. "Aren't you going to make him come, too?"

"No!" said their mother. "We're well rid 使摆脱 of him. He has been more trouble to me than all the rest of you.... To tell the truth, I never liked him very well."

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Chapter 5. CAUGHT BY MR. CROW

It wasn't far to the edge of the corn‧field 玉米‧田 from the farm‧yard 农场‧院子 fence 栅栏. And Henrietta Hen was quick to discover that the freshly ploughed and harrowed field offered a fine place to scratch 刮 for all kinds of worms 虫 and bugs 虫；窃听器 and grubs.

Not being what you might call a wise 明智的；聪明的 bird—like old Mr. Crow—Henrietta didn't know that Farmer Green had carefully 小心 planted corn 玉米 in that field, in long rows 行. She did exclaim 喊叫, however, that she was in great luck when now and then she unearthed 挖掘 a few kernels 核心 of corn. But she wasn't looking for corn. She merely ate it when she happened to find any.

It is no wonder, then, that she was amazed 惊奇 when a hoarse voice suddenly cried right in her ear, almost, "You're a thief 小偷 and you can't deny 拒绝 it!"

She jumped. How could she have helped it? And the voice exclaimed 喊叫, "There! You're guilty 有罪的；内疚的 or you'd never have jumped like that."

Turning, Henrietta saw that a black, beady-eyed gentle‧man 先生 was staring at her sternly 严肃.

"It takes Mr. Crow to catch 'em," he croaked. "He can tell a corn- thief 小偷 half a mile away."

All this time Henrietta Hen hadn't said a word. At first she was too surprised. And after‧ward 之后 she was too angry 生气的.

"Why don't you speak?" he demanded. He dearly loved a quarrel 争吵. And somehow it wasn't much fun 乐趣 quarrelling 争吵 with anybody when the other party wouldn't say a word.

Still Henrietta Hen didn't open her mouth. She puzzled 使迷惑 Mr. Crow. He even forgot forget his rage 愤怒 (for it always made him angry if anybody but himself scratched 刮 up any corn).

"What's the matter with you?" he asked. "What's the reason you don't speak?"

"I'm too proud to talk with you," said Henrietta Hen. "I don't care to be seen speaking to you, sir 先生."

"Ha!" Mr. Crow exploded 爆. "Don't you think I'm as good as you are?"

"No!" said Henrietta Hen. "No, I don't!"

Mr. Crow was all for arguing with her. He began to tell Henrietta many things about himself, how he had spent spend dozens of summers in Pleasant Valley, what a great traveller he was, how far he could fly in a day. There was no end to his boasting.

Yet Henrietta Hen never looked the least bit 一点 interested. Indeed, she began scratching 刮 for worms while he was talking. And that made the old fellow angrier 生气的 than ever.

"Don't you dare 敢 eat another kernel 核心 of corn!" he thundered 雷声. "If you do, I'll have to tell Farmer Green."

"He feeds me corn every day— cracked 破裂 corn!" said Henrietta.

"Well, I never!" cried Mr. Crow. "What's he thinking of, wasting good corn like that?"

"Really, I mustn't be seen talking with you," Henrietta Hen told Mr. Crow. "If you want to know the answer to your question, come over to the barn‧yard 谷仓‧院子 and ask the Rooster. He'll give you an answer that you won't like."

And then she walked away with stately steps.

Mr. Crow watched her with a baleful gleam 闪光 in his eyes. He knew well enough what Henrietta meant. The Rooster would rather fight him than not. And though Mr. Crow loved a quarrel 争吵, he never cared to indulge 放纵 in anything more dangerous 危险 than harsh 苛刻 words.

"I don't know what the farm's coming to," he croaked. "Here's Farmer Green wasting corn on such as her—and cracking 破裂 it for her, too!"

So saying, the old gentle‧man 先生 turned his back on Henrietta Hen, who was already fluttering 扑 through the farm‧yard 农场‧院子 fence 栅栏. And there‧upon 在那里‧在…上面 he scratched up enough corn for a hearty 爽朗 meal 餐, grumbling 叽 mean‧while 同时 because it wasn't cracked for him.

"Somehow," he muttered 咕哝, "I can't help wishing I was a speckled hen 母鸡."

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Chapter 6. HENRIETTA COMPLAINS

There was another member of Farmer Green's flock 群, besides Henrietta Hen, that was proud. Nobody needed to look twice 两次 at the Rooster to tell that he had an excellent opinion of himself. He had a way of walking about the farm‧yard 农场‧院子 that said quite plainly that he believed himself to be a person of great importance. And it was true that things went according to his ideas, among the flock 群.

He was always spoken speak of as "the Rooster." For although there were other roosters in the flock 群, they were both younger and smaller than he, and he would never permit anybody to call them—in his hearing—anything but cockerels.

These cockerels usually took great pains to keep out of the Rooster's way. If they were care‧less 粗心, and he caught them napping 小憩, he was more than likely to make matters unpleasant 不愉快 for them. He knew how to make their feathers fly.

Now, Henrietta Hen thought that the Rooster behaved 表现 in a most silly 愚蠢 fashion. She said it pained her to see him prancing about, with his two long, arched 弓形 tail 尾-feathers nodding 点头 as he walked. The truth was, Henrietta could not endure 忍受 it to have any one more elegantly 优雅 dressed than she. And there was no denying 拒绝 that the Rooster's finery outshone everybody else's. Why, he wore wear a comb on his head that was even bigger than Henrietta's! And he had spurs 骨刺, too, for his legs.

But what Henrietta Hen disliked 反感 most about the Rooster was the way he crowed 乌鸦 each morning. It wasn't so much the kind of crowing 乌鸦 that he indulged 放纵 in; it was rather the early hour he chose choose for it that annoyed 打扰 Henrietta. He always began his Cockle-doodle-doo while it was yet dark. Then everybody in the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋 had to wake 醒 up, whether he wanted to or not. And Henrietta Hen did wish the Rooster would keep still at least till 到 day‧light 日光 came. She often remarked that it was perfectly ridiculous 荒谬 for any one from a fine family—as she was—to get up at such an unearthly 挖掘 hour. She said it was a wonder she kept her good looks, just on account of the Rooster's crowing 乌鸦.

"Why don't you ask him to wait until it's light, before he begins to crow 乌鸦?" Polly Plymouth Rock asked Henrietta one day.

"I'll do it!" cried Henrietta. Right then she called to one of the cockerels, who was near-by. "Just skip 跳跃 across the yard and ask the Rooster—" she began.

The cockerel broke break right in upon her message.

"Oh! I can't do that!" he exclaimed 喊叫. "I've never gone up to the Rooster and spoken to him. If I did, he'd be sure to fight me."

"Just tell him that I sent send you," said Henrietta. And she made the cockerel listen to her message. But he wouldn't be persuaded 说服. He told Henrietta that the Rooster would be sure to jump at him the moment he opened his mouth. "Besides," he added, "it wouldn't do any good, anyhow 总之. The Rooster can't wait until after day‧light 日光, before he begins to crow 乌鸦."

"He can't, eh?" Henrietta Hen spoke speak up some‧what 有些 sharply. "I'd like to know the reason why!" And fixing her gaze 凝视 sternly 严肃 upon the Rooster, she marched 行军；三月 straight across the farm‧yard 农场‧院子 towards him, to find out.

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Chapter 7. WARNING THE ROOSTER

"Good Afternoon!" Henrietta Hen greeted 欢迎 the Rooster. He had not seen her as she walked towards him. And when she spoke he hastily 草草 arranged his two long tail 尾-feathers in what he considered a more becoming droop.

"Good afternoon, madam 夫人!" he answered—for the Rooster prided 自尊 himself that he was always polite 有礼貌的 to the ladies. "Er—there's nothing wrong, I hope," he added quickly as he noticed an odd 奇 gleam 闪光 in Henrietta Hen's eye.

"Yes—there is," she said. The cockerels might fear the Rooster, but Henrietta certainly didn't. She considered him a good deal of a braggart. Indeed, she even had an idea that she could have whipped 鞭打 him her‧self 她自己, had she cared to be so unladylike as to fight. "I've been bothered 烦 for a long time because you crow 乌鸦 so early in the morning. You make such a racket 球拍 that you wake 醒 me up every day."

The Booster hemmed 下摆 and hawed. Somehow he felt uncomfortable 不舒服.

"That's unfortunate 不幸的," he stammered. And then he had a happy thought. " Anyhow 总之," he continued, with a smile at Henrietta, "you don't look as if you lacked for sleep, madam 夫人. You grow more beautiful 美丽 every day."

Henrietta Hen admitted that it was so. "But," she said, "I believe I'd be even hand‧some 英俊 if I weren't disturbed 打扰 so early. I don't like to get up while it's dark. So I'm going to ask you to delay 延迟 your crowing 乌鸦, from now on, until after sun‧rise 日出."

"Impossible!" cried the Rooster. "I'm sorry 对不起的 to disoblige you, madam 夫人. But what you ask can't be done."

"That's just what the cockerel said!" Henrietta Hen exclaimed 喊叫.

"The cockerel!" the Rooster echoed 回声 angrily 生气的. "Which one? Has one of those upstarts been talking about me? Point him out to me and I'll soon teach him a lesson 教训."

Henrietta Hen said that she hadn't noticed which cockerel it was. Somehow they all looked alike 同样的 to her.

"Good!" the Rooster cried. "Then I'll have to whip 鞭打 them all, to make sure of punishing 处罚 the guilty 有罪的；内疚的 one." He looked very fierce 凶猛的.

"Don't be absurd 荒诞!" Henrietta told him. "I asked one of the cockerels to give you a message about not crowing 乌鸦 so early. And he declined 下降. He said it wouldn't do any good."

"It wouldn't have done him any good," the Rooster declared, stamping 邮票 a foot and thrusting 推力 his bill far forward, to show Henrietta Hen how brave 勇敢的 he was.

"What's the matter?" she inquired. "Have you eaten something that disagrees 不同意 with you?"

The Rooster couldn't help looking foolish 傻. Henrietta Hen believed in letting him know that she stood in no awe 威严 of him. And while he was feeling ill 生病 at ease 轻松 she hastened 加速 to tell him that here‧after 此后 he must hold onto his first crow 乌鸦 until after sun‧rise 日出.

"I can't do that," he told her again, unhappily 不快乐.

"Don't you dare 敢 let go of it!" she warned him. "If that first crow 乌鸦 gets away from you while it's dark, there'll be so many others to follow it that I shan't be able to close an eye for even a cat-nap 小憩."

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Chapter 8. WHY THE ROOSTER CROWED

Henrietta Hen had commanded the Rooster to wait until day‧light 日光 before he began to crow 乌鸦.

He saw that she had made up her mind that he must obey 服从 her. But he knew he couldn't. And he always took great pains to be polite 有礼貌的 to the ladies.

It was a wonder the Rooster didn't turn red in the face. He had never found himself in such a corner before.

"You don't understand," he blurted. "I'd be delighted to oblige 责成 you, but if I didn't crow 乌鸦 until after the sun rose rise I'd never crow 乌鸦 again."

"We could stand that," was Henrietta Hen's grim 严峻 reply.

"Perhaps!" he admitted—for she made him feel strangely humble 谦逊的. "But could you stand it if the night lasted for‧ever 永远?"

"You're talking non‧sense 废话 now," she declared.

"You don't understand," he told her again. "And I must say I'm surprised, madam 夫人, that you didn't know it was I that waked 醒 the sun up every morning. That's why I crow 乌鸦 so early."

Henrietta Hen was so astonished that she didn't know what to say. She thought deeply for a time—or as deeply as she could.

"Have you not noticed," the Rooster inquired, "that the sun never rises until I've crowed 乌鸦 loudly a good many times?"

"No! No—I haven't," Henrietta murmured 私语. "But now that you speak of it, I see that it's so."

"Exactly!" he said. "And often, madam 夫人, I have to crow 乌鸦 a long time before he peeps 窥视 over Blue Mountain. It's lucky 幸运 I have a good, strong voice," the Rooster, added with a smirk, for he was feeling more at his ease 轻松. "If I had a thin, squeaky crow 乌鸦 such as those worth‧less 无用 cockerels have, Farmer Green would have had to do many a day's work in the dark."

"Goodness!" Henrietta Hen gasped 喘气. "Do crow 乌鸦 your loudest 响亮的 the moment you wake up, Mr. Rooster! Do make all the noise you can!" And he promised faithfully 忠实 that he would.

Henrietta left him then. Somehow she couldn't get their talk out of her mind. And soon she had an unhappy 不快乐 thought. What if anything should happen to the Rooster's voice?

The moment that question popped 流行的 into her head, Henrietta Hen hurried back to the Rooster.

"Do be careful 小心!" she besought him. "Don't get your feet wet! For if you caught cold you might be so hoarse that you couldn't speak above a whisper 低声说."

The Rooster thanked her politely 有礼貌的 for thinking of his health.

"I always take good care of myself 我," he assured 向…保证；肯定地说 her.

"It looks like rain this minute," she said as she cast 投 an anxious 焦急的 glance 一瞥 at the sky. "Hadn't you better run into the barn 谷仓?"

He thought otherwise—and said as much.

"You ought to wear rubbers 橡胶 every day," she chided him, as she went away again.

Soon Henrietta returned once more to urge the Rooster to carry an umbrella 雨伞. And it wasn't long after that when she came bustling 忙碌 up to him and informed him that a warm muffler about his throat wouldn't be amiss.

There seemed to be no end to her suggestions 建议. And though at first the Rooster had liked to hear them (without having any idea of following them) after a time Henrietta's attentions began to annoy 打扰 him.

"Great cracked corn!" he exclaimed 喊叫. "This Henrietta Hen is getting to be a pest 虫害."

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Chapter 9. HAUGHTY HENRIETTA

Feeling as important as she did, Henrietta Hen liked to have her own way. She said that she couldn't be expected to do just as others wished.

"I'll take orders from nobody," she often declared. "And if I lay eggs for Farmer Green I shall lay them when and where I please."

Henrietta took special delight in laying her eggs in out-of-the-way places. She was never content to lay two in the same nest （鸟）窝.

"If they left them for me perhaps I'd feel differently," she explained to her neighbors. "But Johnnie Green gathers every egg that he can find. And if he takes my eggs I'll make him hunt for them, anyhow 总之."

The older, more staid hens 母鸡 shook shake their heads when Henrietta talked like that. They told her she was ungrateful.

"Farmer Green gives you a snug home and plenty of food," they reminded her. "And the least you can do is to repay 偿还 him. You ought not to make trouble by hiding your eggs."

But Henrietta Hen couldn't—or wouldn't—agree with them.

"It's all very well for you to talk," she retorted 反驳. "If my eggs were undersized I shouldn't mind losing them as fast as I laid them. But I lay the biggest and finest eggs to be had. So it's only natural 自然 that I should like to have at least one around to look at—and to show to callers 呼叫者."

Now, there were plenty of other hens 母鸡 in the flock 群 that laid eggs exactly as big—or even bigger—than Henrietta Hen's. Some of them told her as much. Yet it did them no good to talk to her. She wouldn't believe that there were any eggs in the world to compare with hers. So her neighbors learned after a while that they might as well let Henrietta Hen manage her affairs as she pleased. They couldn't help hoping, however, that somehow Farmer Green would find a way to outwit her.

"What can Henrietta Hen be so boastful about now?" the hens 母鸡 asked one another one day. "She acts as if she thought more highly of her‧self 她自己 than ever."

They soon discovered the reason for Henrietta's unusually 异常 pompous manner. For she began to make calls on all her friends. And she invited everybody to come to her latest nest 3 high up in the haymow.

"I've something there to show you," she said with an air of mystery. "You'll be surprised to see it."

Most of Henrietta's neighbors did not show any great curiosity 好奇心 to see the surprise. They smiled at one another. "She's laid another egg—that's all!" they whispered 低声说.

But there are always some that can't rest until they know everybody else's business. And it was lucky 幸运 that Henrietta Hen hurried home to receive her callers 呼叫者, because she had a good many. They came even earlier in the afternoon than was strictly 严格的 fashion‧able 时髦. And they came in a crowd, too. That, however, didn't bother Henrietta Hen. Nor could they have arrived too soon to suit her.

"Look!" she cried, when they reached her nest high up in the haymow. "Did you ever see anything to beat that?"

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Chapter 10. THE BIG, WHITE EGG

When Henrietta Hen's callers 呼叫者 crowded about her nest in the haymow they expected to see something wonderful 精彩. But when they craned 起重机 their necks and peered 窥视 into the little hollowed 空的-out snuggery in the hay 干草 they couldn't help being disappointed. And when they didn't burst 爆裂 forth with cries of surprise and praise 赞扬 Henrietta Hen looked quite unhappy 不快乐.

"I thought," she said, "you'd want to see this egg. I'm sure you never beheld a bigger nor a whiter one than this."

They admitted that the egg was big and that it was very, very white. And if their praise was faint 微弱的, Henrietta never noticed it.

"Are you going to let Farmer Green have that egg?" one of the company inquired.

"No doubt Johnnie Green will grab 用手抓 it as soon as he finds my nest," said Henrietta with something like a sigh 叹. "If I could only keep this one I wouldn't care how many others he took."

Polly Plymouth Rock turned to old Whitey, a hen 母鸡 who had come with her to the haymow.

"What do you think?" Polly asked. "Is Henrietta in danger of losing this egg that she thinks so much of?"

"She needn't be alarmed 警告," old Whitey answered. "If Johnnie Green robs 抢劫 her of this one, I'll miss my guess."

"Oh! I'm glad 高兴的 to hear you say that!" Henrietta Hen cried. "Now I won't need to worry—that is, if you know what you're talking about."

That, of course, was a most impolite way for Henrietta Hen to speak to anybody of old Whitey's age. Whitey was the oldest hen 母鸡 in the flock 群. And what she didn't know about such things as nests （鸟）窝 and eggs and roosts wasn't worth knowing.

Polly Plymouth Rock didn't like Henrietta Hen's remark. She opened her mouth.

And no doubt she would have said something quite sharp in reply. But old Whitey stopped her.

"Never mind!" said Whitey. "The day will come when Henrietta Hen will agree that my guess is a good one."

Still Henrietta Hen felt uneasy 不安 about that big, white egg.

"I do hope Johnnie Green won't find this new nest of mine," she remarked.

"If he does, I fear he'll take my beautiful 美丽 egg away from me."

"Lay another!" said old Whitey. "Lay another and he'll take that and leave this one."

"I suppose I may as well try your scheme 方案," Henrietta replied, "since nobody suggests anything better."

"My idea's a good one, or I'll miss my guess," said old Whitey.

There was some snickering among Henrietta Hen's callers 呼叫者 as they bade her good afternoon and left her.

"They're laughing at old Whitey," she said to her‧self 她自己. She hadn't the slightest notion 概念 that they could be giggling 傻笑 at her. "Old Whitey must be wrong," she thought. "But I may as well take her advice 劝告, for I don't know what else to do."

Not long after‧ward 之后 Henrietta Hen came fluttering 扑 down from the haymow, squawking at the top of her lungs for old Whitey. And as soon as she found her, Henrietta cried, "Come up to my nest right away! I want to ask your advice."

Although she didn't say "Please!" old Whitey went with her.

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Chapter 11. OLD WHITEY'S ADVICE

Old Whitey—the most ancient hen 母鸡 in the flock 群—scrambled 争夺 with some difficulty up to the top of the haymow in Farmer Green's barn 谷仓. She could scarcely keep up with Henrietta Hen, whom 谁 she was following—by request. And when she arrived, breath‧less 咋舌, at Henrietta's nest that proud and elegant 优雅 creature 动物；生物 turned a troubled face toward her.

"See!" said Henrietta. "I've taken your advice and laid another egg. But it's nothing like the beautiful 美丽, big, white one. This last egg is much smaller; and it's brown."

Old Whitey nodded 点头 her head. "Well!" she said. "What's your difficulty?"

"Don't you think," said Henrietta, "that if Johnnie Green finds my nest he'll be sure to take both eggs?"

"No, I don't," was old Whitey's blunt 钝 answer.

"Then he'll be sure to take the big, white one," Henrietta Hen wailed 哀号.

"No, he won't," old Whitey told her. "If he does, I'll miss my guess."

Well, that was really too much for Henrietta Hen to believe.

"That boy will never take a little egg and leave a big one," she declared.

"You wait and see if he doesn't," old Whitey advised her.

So Henrietta waited. Though she had little faith in old Whitey's advice, Henrietta could think of nothing else to do. And the next morning, to her great surprise, when Johnnie Green climbed into the haymow and found her nest he took the small brown egg and put it in his hat. And he never touched the big, white egg at all. He didn't even pick it up and look at it!

Perched on a beam 梁 over‧head 高架 Henrietta Hen watched him breath‧less 咋舌. And as soon as he had gone she went flopping 拍击声 down to the barn 谷仓 floor and set up a great clamor 叫嚣 for old Whitey.

"What is it now?" old Whitey asked, sticking her head inside the door‧way 门口.

"Your guess was a good one!" cried Henrietta Hen. "He came; and he took the small one."

"There!" said old Whtiey. "I told you so! I knew Johnnie Green wouldn't rob 抢劫 you of that big egg. And if you keep laying small eggs in that same nest you'll find he'll let you keep the big one."

Henrietta Hen fairly beamed 梁 at her companion 同伴.

"How delightful 愉快!" she exclaimed 喊叫. "I've become very, very fond 喜欢的 of that big egg. I love to look at it. But there's another thing that worries me now. If that big egg should get broken break—"

"Don't let that trouble you!" said old Whitey.

"I'm almost afraid to sit on my nest," Henrietta Hen confessed 供认. "If the shell 壳 of that egg should happen to be thin—"

Old Whitey seemed much amused 使人发笑 by Henrietta's fears.

"Let me know if you break it," she said. And then she left Henrietta with her treasure 金银财宝.

"I'll be very careful 小心," Henrietta called after the old dame.

---

Chapter 12. PLAYING TRICKS

Now, the hen 母鸡 known as old Whitey was something of a gossip 八卦. She went straight to the farm‧yard 农场‧院子 and told everybody what had happened—what Henrietta Hen had said to her and what she had said to Henrietta Hen. The whole flock 群 had a great laugh over the affair.

To Henrietta Hen's delight, all her neighbors took a keen 热切的 interest in the wonderful 精彩 white egg. They asked her count‧less 无数 questions about it. Above all, they always took pains to inquire 打听 whether she had been so unlucky 不幸的 as to crack 破裂 the shell 壳. And if Henrietta hadn't displeased Polly Plymouth Rock one day, the truth might never have come out.

Anyhow 3, Polly Plymouth Rock told Henrietta Hen that if she had any sense she would stop making such a fuss 小题大作 over a china 中国 egg.

"China egg!" cried Henrietta. "I don't know what you mean."

"That's not a real egg that you're so proud of," Polly Plymouth Rock declared. "It's nothing but a make-believe one. Johnnie Green left it in your nest to fool you, so you'd keep that nest and lay eggs in it, right along.... You're so careful 小心 not to break that china 中国 egg! Why, if you tried to break it you'd find that it's solid as a rock."

Henrietta Hen couldn't believe the terrible news.

"I laid that egg myself 我!" she shrieked 尖叫.

"You think you did; but you didn't," Polly Plymouth Rock snapped 卡. "Johnnie Green took an egg of yours one day and left that other one in its place, to deceive 欺诈 you. And everybody on the farm—except you—knows that he succeeded."

Henrietta Hen didn't wait to hear anything more. She rushed 仓促 squalling into the barn 谷仓 and went straight to her nest. One good, hard peck 啄 at the big white egg told her beyond all doubt that she had been betrayed 背叛. The beautiful 美丽, big, white egg wasn't an egg after all!

Now that Henrietta Hen knew it she wondered how it could ever have deceived 欺诈 her. She saw that it was shiny 闪亮 and altogether 全部地 unlike 不像 any egg she had ever seen any‧where 任何地方.

"Johnnie Green has played a mean trick 哄骗；诀窍 on me," Henrietta Hen cackled. "And now I'll play one on him! He can have his old china 中国 egg. I'll leave it here for him. But he'll find none of my beautiful 美丽 little brown eggs beside it. I'll have my nest where he'll never discover it—not if he hunts for it all summer long!"

So saying, she left the haymow. And going into the carriage 运输 shed, her roving 漫游 eyes chanced to light on an old straw 稻草 hat of Johnnie Green's that lay upside 上边 down upon a high shelf 架子.

Henrietta Hen managed to flutter 扑 up beside it. And then with many a chuckle 暗笑 she laid a brown egg in the hat.

"There!" she cackled. "This is the safest place on the farm. Johnnie Green hasn't had this hat on his head since last summer."

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Chapter 13. TWO IN A GARDEN

Jimmy Rabbit 兔子 was enjoying a few nibbles at one of Farmer Green's cabbages 卷心菜. He hadn't noticed that there was anybody but himself in the garden. So it startled 惊吓 him to hear a shrill voice cry, "Get out of our garden!"

Jimmy Rabbit jumped. But he didn't jump far, for he soon saw that it was only Henrietta Hen speaking to him.

"Why should I get out of our garden?" Jimmy Rabbit inquired mildly 温柔的.

"I should have said, 'Farmer Green's garden,'" said Henrietta Hen.

"Thank you very much for the warning; but I don't think we need go away just yet—if old dog Spot isn't sniffing 吸气 around," said Jimmy Rabbit 3. "I don't believe there's any danger."

"You don't understand," Henrietta Hen cried. "I ordered you out of the garden."

"You ordered me?" said Jimmy Rabbit, acting as if he were astonished.

"Yes!" Henrietta declared. "And I'd like to know when you're going to obey 服从 me."

"It's easy to answer that," Jimmy Rabbit replied. "I'm going away as soon as I've finished my luncheon 午餐." Nobody could have been pleasanter than he. Yet Henrietta Hen seemed determined to be disagree‧able 不同意‧能够的.

"I don't see your lunch 午餐 basket 篮," she remarked, looking all around.

"No!" he replied. "I forgot it. I meant to bring one with me and carry a cabbage 卷心菜-head home in it."

Henrietta Hen spoke as if she were very peevish.

"You've no right," she said, "to take one of the cabbages 卷心菜 away with you."

"I'm not going to," Jimmy Rabbit explained.

"You were nibbling at one when I first noticed you," Henrietta Hen insisted 咬定.

"Was I?" he gasped 喘气. "Are you sure you're not mistaken 错误? Are you sure you weren't pecking 啄 at a cabbage 卷心菜-leaf 叶子 your‧self 你自己?"

Now, the truth of the matter was that Henrietta had her‧self 她自己 come to the garden to eat cabbage 卷心菜. Really she was no better than he was. But somehow Henrietta Hen never could believe that she was in the wrong.

"You're impertinent," she told Jimmy

Rabbit in her severest 严峻的 tone 音. "You know very well that Farmer Green raises these cabbages 卷心菜 for home use only."

"Well," said Jimmy Rabbit, "I'll make myself 我 at home here, then." And turning a cold shoulder on Henrietta Hen he began nibbling at a cabbage 卷心菜-leaf 叶子 once more.

Henrietta felt quite help‧less 无助. Somehow nothing she could say to the intruder 侵入者 seemed to have the slightest effect on him. And he appeared to be enjoying his luncheon 午餐 so thoroughly that it made Henrietta Hen very hungry 饥饿 just to see him eat. In spite 恶意 of her‧self 她自己 she couldn't resist 抵抗 joining him at luncheon 午餐.

"Ah!" he exclaimed 喊叫 between mouthfuls, "I see you're making your‧self 你自己 at home, too."

Henrietta Hen tried to look very dignified 褒. She pecked 啄 at the cabbage 卷心菜 in an absent 缺席的-minded fashion, pretending 假装 that it was no treat to her. As a matter of fact, she had been trying to get a taste of cabbage 卷心菜 for a long while. And this was the first time she had managed to crawl 爬行 through the garden fence. "One has to eat something," she murmured 私语.

Jimmy Rabbit smiled slyly. Henrietta Hen couldn't deceive 欺诈 him. He knew that she was as fond 喜欢的 of cabbage 卷心菜 as he was himself.

"Did you ever hear it said," he asked her suddenly, "that eating too much cabbage 卷心菜 causes long ears?"

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Chapter 14. EARS—SHORT OR LONG

Henrietta Hen's heart began to thump 扑通. She dropped a bit 一点 of cabbage 卷心菜 out of her bill, letting it fall as if it burned burn her. And usually she was very careful 小心 as to her table-manners. "Goodness!" she said to Jimmy Rabbit, who was busily munching cabbage 卷心菜 in Farmer Green's garden. "You frighten 使惊恐 me!"

He had just asked her this strange question: "Did you ever hear it said that eating too much cabbage 卷心菜 causes long ears?" And Henrietta Hen didn't want long ears. She knew they would be sure to spoil 损坏；变质 her beauty.

Jimmy Rabbit had no time to say anything more to Henrietta Hen. Although he had not finished his luncheon 午餐 he left the garden suddenly—and in great haste 匆忙. For old dog Spot began barking 吠 just beyond the fence; and Jimmy Rabbit always wanted to get as far from that sound as he could.

When Spot scurried into the cabbage 卷心菜-patch 补丁 a little later Henrietta Hen called to him.

"What is it?" he asked her impatiently 不耐烦. "I'm in a great hurry. I don't like to stop."

"This is a very important matter," said Henrietta Hen. "Do you like cabbage 卷心菜?" she demanded.

"Cabbage?" he repeated after her as a puzzled look came over his face.

"You needn't act so surprised," Henrietta told him coldly. "You didn't come running into the garden for nothing. And I have reason to believe that you intended to eat some of Farmer Green's cabbages 卷心菜."

"What's your reason?" old Spot inquired.

"You have long ears," said Henrietta.

"Nonsense!" cried Spot. "What a person eats doesn't make his ears either long or short."

"Are you sure of that?" Henrietta Hen wanted to know.

"I've never eaten cabbage 卷心菜 in all my life," he declared.

Still she couldn't rid her‧self 她自己 of her fears.

"Perhaps," she said, "if you had eaten it your ears would have grown grow twice 两次 as long as they are now."

He shook his head. "I don't think so," he muttered 咕哝.

"There's only one way to find out," Henrietta announced 宣布. "Eat a lot of cabbage 卷心菜—all you can! And we'll soon see whether your ears are growing longer."

But old dog Spot refused flatly to do anything of the sort. He said that his ears suited 套房 him quite well, just as they were.

"What!" Henrietta cried. "Wouldn't you eat cabbage 卷心菜 to oblige 责成 a lady?"

Old Spot said he was sorry; but he had no liking for cabbage 卷心菜.

"How can you tell if you've never tasted it?" she asked.

He made no answer to that question. Instead, he asked her one of his own.

"Would you like long ears?" he inquired.

"Certainly not!" she cried.

"How can you tell if you've never tried wearing any?" he demanded.

"Don't be stupid 愚蠢的!" she snapped 卡. "None of my family wears ears that can be seen. What a sight I'd be with long ears! Ears are very ugly 难看的 things, and I only hope that I haven't eaten so much cabbage 卷心菜 that mine will begin to grow.... Do you suppose they'd hang down like yours or stick up like Jimmy Rabbit's? He didn't say anything about that."

Old dog Spot let out a howl 嗥.

"Jimmy Rabbit!" he growled 吠声. "Was he talking with you just before I arrived?"

"Yes!" said Henrietta. "It was he that asked me if I had ever heard that eating cabbage 卷心菜 made a person's ears grow."

"I might have known that it was that young Rabbit who put such a silly 愚蠢 notion 概念 into your head," Spot grumbled 叽. "If you hadn't stopped me I'd have stopped him by this time.... But it's too late now."

"You don't suppose he was joking 笑话, do you?" Henrietta inquired.

"Of course he was," said Spot—and none too pleasantly.

"Well," Henrietta mused 沉思, as she pecked 啄 at a cabbage 卷心菜-leaf 叶子, "I must say that I think the joke 笑话's on you."

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Chapter 15. HENRIETTA'S FRIGHT

When the old horse Ebenezer stood in his stall 摊子 in the barn 谷仓 he was always glad 高兴的 to talk with anybody that came along.

Henrietta Hen sometimes strolled 漫步 into the horse-barn 谷仓 to see if she could find a little grain 谷物 that had spilled 溢出:spill on the floor. So it came about that she and Ebenezer had many a chat 聊 together. Henrietta had no great opinion of horses. She thought that they had altogether 全部地 more than their share of grain.

But she was willing to pass the time of day with Ebenezer, because he let her walk right into his stall 摊子 and pick up tidbits that had dropped upon the floor beneath 之下 his manger.

It was on such an occasion, on a summer's day, that he said to her with a sigh 叹, "Haying's going to begin to-morrow."

Henrietta Hen remarked that she wasn't at all interested in the news. "And I don't see why you should sigh 叹," she added. "Goodness knows you'll eat your share of the hay 干草—and probably more—before the winter's over."

"It's the work that I'm thinking of," Ebenezer explained. "They'll hitch 拴住 me to the hay‧rake 干草‧耙子 and Johnnie Green will drive me all day long in the hot hayfields. I always hate to hear the clatter 哒 of the mowing 刈 machine," he groaned 呻吟. "It means that the hay‧rake 干草‧耙子 will come out of the shed next."

Henrietta Hen caught her breath.

"The mowing 刈 machine!" she gasped 喘气. "Is Farmer Green going to use the mowing 刈 machine now?"

"Certainly!" said Ebenezer. "I hear he's going to harness 马具 the bays to it to-morrow morning."

"My! my!" Henrietta wailed 哀号. "Isn't there any way I can stop him from doing that?"

"I don't know of any," Ebenezer told her. "I've often felt just as you do about it. There's nobody that dreads 恐惧 hearing the mowing 刈 machine more than I do."

"You can't feel the way I do," Henrietta declared.

"On the contrary 相反," the old horse insisted 咬定, "I don't see how it can matter to you in the least. You don't have to pull the mowing 刈 machine nor the hay‧rake 干草‧耙子. Besides, didn't you just tell me that my news about haying 干草 didn't interest you?"

"But it does!" Henrietta cried. "I was mistaken 错误. It means everything to me. It's the worst 生病:ill news I ever heard in all my life."

Old Ebenezer looked down at her with mild 温柔的 astonishment 惊愕 on his long, honest 诚实的 face.

"Why is it bad news?" he inquired. "If you'll tell me, perhaps I can help you."

So Henrietta Hen explained her difficulty. Whatever it was, it amazed 惊奇 Ebenezer. And he had to admit that he could think of no way out of the trouble.

"It was very, very care‧less 粗心 of you," he told Henrietta. Then suddenly he had a happy thought. " Cheer 欢呼 up!" he cried. "If Farmer Green sits on them, maybe they'll hatch 孵化."

"Hatch!" she groaned 呻吟. "They'll break!"

And she ran out of the stall 摊子 and hurried into the yard.

She was just in time to hear Farmer Green calling to his son Johnnie.

"Look here!" said he. "I started to oil the mowing 刈 machine so I could use it to-morrow; and just see what I found in the seat!"

Johnnie Green came a-running. And there in the seat of the mowing 刈 machine, nestling 贴近 in the hay 干草 which had been put there for a cushion 垫子 the summer before, three eggs greeted Johnnie's eyes.

"They must belong to the speckled hen 母鸡," Johnnie decided. "I knew she'd stolen her nest again. I couldn't find it any‧where 任何地方." He picked up the eggs and put them in his hat. "She's a sly one," he said.

That remark made Henrietta Hen some‧what 有些 angry. At the same time she was glad that Farmer Green had discovered the eggs before it was too late. She wouldn't have liked him to sit on them.

It always upset 打翻 her to see her eggs broken.

---

Chapter 16. THE ROOSTER UPSET

During the summer Henrietta Hen roamed 漫游 about the farm‧yard 农场‧院子 as she pleased. To be sure, she always came a-running at feeding time. But except when there was something there to eat, she didn't go near the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋. She "stole her nest," to use Johnnie Green's words, now in one place and now in another. And at night she roosted on any handy 便利 place in the barn 谷仓 or the haymow, under the carriage 运输-shed or even over the pigpens.

However, when the nights began to grow chilly 寒冷 Henrietta was glad enough to creep 爬行 into the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋 with her companions 同伴. She always retired early. And being a good sleeper, she slept sleep usually until the Rooster began to crow 乌鸦 towards dawn 黎明. Of course now and then some fidgetty hen 母鸡 fancied 想像 that she heard a fox 狐狸 prowling about and waked everybody else with her squalls.

Such interruptions 中断 upset 打翻 Henrietta. After the flock 群 had gone to sleep again Henrietta Hen was more than likely to dream that Fatty Coon was in the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋. And she would squawk right out and start another commotion.

Luckily such disturbances 骚乱 didn't happen every night. Often nothing occurred 发生 to break the silence of the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋. And Henrietta would dream only of pleasant things, such as cracked corn, or crisp 脆 cabbage 卷心菜-leaves, or bone 骨头 meal 餐. After dreams of that sort Henrietta couldn't always be sure, when the Rooster waked her with his crowing 乌鸦, that she hadn't already break‧fast 早餐. But she would peck 啄 at her break‧fast 早餐, when feeding time came, and if it tasted good she would know then that the other food had been nothing but a dream.

One night, soon after she had gone back to roost in the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋, it seemed to Henrietta that she had scarcely fallen fall asleep 睡着的 when the Rooster crowed 乌鸦.

She awoke 醒着的:awake with a start.

"Goodness!" she exclaimed 喊叫 under her breath. "I must have slept soundly, for I haven't dreamed dream a single dream all night long." Then she noticed that none of the other hens 母鸡 had stirred 搅动. " Lazy 懒惰的 bones 骨头!" Henrietta remarked to the Rooster. "You won't get 'em up in a hurry. They, don't hear you at all."

To her surprise she received no answer.

"He couldn't have heard me," she said to her‧self 她自己. So she repeated her speech in a louder 响亮的 tone 音. And still the Rooster made no reply. Henrietta couldn't understand it, he was always so polite 有礼貌的 to the ladies. Could it be that he was snubbing her?

Henrietta grew a bit angry as that thought popped 流行的 into her head.

"What's the matter?" she snapped 卡. "Have you lost your voice? It was loud enough to wake me up a few moments ago."

Receiving no response 响应 whatsoever 任何, Henrietta completely lost her temper. "I'll see what's wrong with you!" she cackled. And throwing her‧self 她自己 off her roost, though it was dark as a pocket 口袋 in the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋, she flung her‧self 她自己 upon the perch 栖息 just opposite, where she knew the Rooster had slept.

It was no wonder that Henrietta Hen blundered 错误 in the dark. It was no wonder that she missed her way and stumbled 绊倒 squarely into the Rooster, knocking 敲 him head‧long 头；上端‧长的 on the floor.

He set up a terrible clamor 叫嚣. And he made Henrietta Hen angrier than ever, for he cried out in a loud voice something that would have displeased anybody. "A skunk is after me!" he bawled.

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Chapter 17. A SIGN OF RAIN

There was a terrible hubbub in the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋. The Rooster squalled so loudly that he waked up every hen 母鸡 in the place. And when they heard him crying that a skunk had knocked 敲 him off his roost they were as frightened 使惊恐 as he was, and set up a wild cackle. All but Henrietta Hen! She knew there was no skunk there.

"Don't be a goose 鹅—er—don't be a gander!" she hissed 嘶 to the Rooster. "I'm the one that bumped 磕碰 into you."

The Rooster quickly came to his senses.

"Don't be alarmed, ladies!" he called to the flock 群. "There's no danger. There's been a slight mistake." He pretended 假装 that he hadn't been scared 惊恐. But he had been. And now he was some‧what 有些 uneasy 不安 about Henrietta Hen. He feared he was in for a scolding 责骂 from her.

"If you had answered me when I spoke to you I wouldn't have left my perch 栖息 in the dark," she told the Rooster severely 严峻的. "When I moved to your perch 栖息 to see what was the matter I blundered 错误 into you. And then you thought I was a skunk! You owe 欠…债 me an apology 道歉认错, sir 先生!"

The Rooster was glad it was not lighter in the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋, for he felt himself flushing 红晕 hotly.

"You must pardon 宽恕；说啥？ me," he said. "I had no idea it was you, for you waked me out of a sound sleep."

"Sound sleep, indeed!" Henrietta Hen exclaimed 喊叫 with a sniff 吸气. "Why, you had been crowing 乌鸦 only a few moments before. In fact it was your crowing 乌鸦 that roused 唤醒 me."

"No doubt!" said the Rooster. "But you see, I fell fall asleep 睡着的 again immediately."

"Then you must be ill 生病," Henrietta retorted 反驳, "for I've never known you to go to sleep again, once you've begun your morning's crowing 乌鸦."

"But it's not morning now," the Rooster informed her. "It's not even late at night—certainly not an hour since sunset 日落."

Henrietta Hen was astonished.

"I noticed that the night seemed short," she muttered 咕哝.

The Rooster thought it a great joke 笑话.

"Ha! ha!" he laughed. And he said to the rest of the flock 群, with a chuckle 暗笑, "Henrietta thought it was morning! No doubt she'd have gone out into the yard if the door hadn't been shut 关闭." And the other hens 母鸡 all tittered. They always did, if the rooster expected them to.

Well, if there was one thing that Henrietta Hen couldn't endure 忍受, it was to be laughed at.

"Don't be silly 愚蠢!" she cried. "Why shouldn't I think it was morning, when he crowed 乌鸦 almost in my ear?"

"Don't you know why I crowed 乌鸦?" the Rooster asked her. And without waiting for any reply, he said, "I crowed 乌鸦 to let Farmer Green know it was going to rain to-morrow."

Of course Henrietta Hen had to have the last word. The Rooster might have known she would.

"Then," she observed, "I suppose you squawked to let him know there was a skunk in the hen‧house 母鸡‧房屋."

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Chapter 18. IN NEED OF ADVICE

Something was troubling Henrietta Hen. She seemed to have some secret sorrow 悲痛. No longer did she move with her well-known queenly 女王 manner among her neighbors in the farm‧yard 农场‧院子. Instead, she spent a good deal of her time moping 拖把. And no one could guess the reason. She didn't even care to talk to anybody—not even to boast 自夸 about her fine, speckled coat. And that certainly was not in the least like Henrietta Hen.

Always, before, Henrietta had seized 抓住 every chance to parade 游行 before the public. Now she seemed to crave 渴望 privacy 隐私.

What was the matter? To tell the truth, Henrietta Hen her‧self 她自己 did not know the answer to that question. That is to say, she did not know why a certain thing was so. She only knew that a great misfortune 不幸 had befallen her. And she dreaded 恐惧 to tell anybody about it.

To be sure, there was old Whitey—a hen 母鸡 who had lived on the farm longer than any other. Most members of the flock 群 often asked her advice. Even Henrietta her‧self 她自己 had done that. But this difficulty was something she didn't want to mention to a neighbor. If there were only somebody outside the flock 群 to whom 谁 she could go for help! But she knew of no one.

Then Henrietta happened to hear of Aunt 阿姨 Polly Woodchuck. The Muley Cow 奶牛, who went to the pasture 牧场 every day, mentioned Aunt Polly's name to Henrietta. According to the Muley Cow, Aunt Polly Woodchuck was an herb 草本植物 doctor—and a good one, too. No matter what might be troubling a person, Aunt 3 Polly was sure to have something right in her basket 篮 to cure 治愈 it.

"I'd like to see her," Henrietta Hen had said. "But I can't go way up in the pasture 牧场, under the hill."

"Could you go to the end of the lane 车道?" the Muley Cow inquired.

"Yes!"

"Then I'll ask Aunt Polly Woodchuck to meet you by the bars to-morrow morning," the Muley Cow promised.

That suited 套房 Henrietta Hen.

"I'll be there—if it doesn't rain," she agreed.

Early the next day she followed the cows 奶牛 through the lane 车道. And she hadn't waited long at the bars when Aunt Polly Woodchuck came hobbling up to her. Being a very old lady, Aunt Polly was some‧what 有些 lame 瘸. But she was spry, for all that. And her eyes were as bright as buttons 按钮.

Henrietta Hen saw at once that Aunt Polly was hope‧less 绝望地 old-fashioned. She carried a basket 篮 on her arm, and a stick in her hand.

"Well, well, dearie! Here you are!" cried Aunt Polly Woodchuck. "The Muley Cow tells me you're feeling poorly. Do tell me all about your‧self 你自己! ]No doubt I've something in my basket 3 that will do you a world of good."

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Chapter 19. AUNT POLLY HELPS

Somehow Henrietta Hen couldn't help liking Aunt Polly Woodchuck, in spite 恶意 of her old-fashioned appearance. She certainly had a way with her—a way that made a person want to tell her his troubles.

"I don't know whether you can help me or not," said Henrietta Hen. "Have you any feathers in your basket?"

"No—no! No feathers!" Aunt Polly replied. "I use herbs 草本植物 in my business of doctoring. But I've heard that a burnt burn feather 羽毛 held under a body's nose will do wonders sometimes.... I must always carry a feather in my basket, here‧after 此后."

"One feather wouldn't do me any good," said Henrietta Hen with a doleful sigh 叹. "I need a great many more than one."

"You do?" Aunt Polly cried.

"Yes!" Henrietta answered. "Half my feathers have dropped off me. And that's why I've come to ask your advice. I'm fast losing my fatal 致命 beauty."

Henrietta Hen's voice trembled as she told Aunt Polly Woodchuck the dreadful 可怕 news. "I don't believe you'll be able to help me," she quavered. "I'll soon look like a perfect fright 恐怖. Besides, winter's coming; and how I'll ever keep warm with no feathers is more than I know."

Henrietta Hen couldn't understand how Aunt Polly managed to stay so calm 镇定的. Henrietta had expected her to throw up her hands and say something like "Sakes alive 活的；有生命的!" or " Mercy 宽容 on us!" But the old lady did nothing of the sort.

She set her basket down on the ground; and pushing her spectacles 场面 forward to the end of her nose, she leaned lean over and looked closely at Henrietta Hen. Aunt Polly's gaze 凝视 travelled over Henrietta from head to foot and then back again. And she took hold of one of Henrietta's feathers and gave it a gentle twitch 抽搐.

"Look out!" Henrietta cried. "You'll pull it out if you're not careful 小心. And I can't afford 买得起 to lose any more feathers than I have to."

"Don't worry!" Aunt Polly Woodchuck advised her. " Cheer 欢呼 up! There's nothing the matter with you. You are molting. You are going to get a new outfit 配备 of feathers for winter. Your old ones have to fall out in order to make room for the new. And no doubt the fresh ones will be much hand‧some 英俊 than the old."

Henrietta couldn't believe that Aunt Polly knew what she was talking about.

"I can't be molting as early in the fall as this," she protested 抗议. "I've never got my winter feathers so soon.... I fear you're mistaken 错误," she told Aunt Polly.

"Oh, no! I'm not mistaken 错误," Aunt Polly Woodchuck insisted 咬定. "I know it's early for molting—but haven't you noticed that the wheat 小麦 grew big this year, and that the bark 吠 on young trees is thick? And haven't you observed that Frisky Squirrel is laying up a great store of nuts 螺母 in his hollow 空的 tree, and that the hornets built their paper houses far from the ground this summer?"

Henrietta Hen's mouth fell open as she stared at Aunt Polly Woodchuck. And when the old lady paused 暂停, Henrietta looked quite bewildered 困惑.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she murmured 私语. "I don't see what all this has to do with molting."

"Some of those signs," Aunt Polly explained, "mean an early winter; and some of 'em mean a cold one. I've never known 'em to fail. And you're molting early so you'll have a good warm coat of feathers by the time winter comes."

Well, Henrietta Hen began to feel better at once. She actually smiled—something she had not done for days.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she said. "You're a fine doctor, Aunt Polly. I don't wonder that folks 民间 ask your advice—especially when there's nothing the matter with them!"

And then Henrietta Hen hurried off down the lane 车道. Being timid 胆小 about hawks 鹰, she never felt quite comfort‧able 舒服；自在 far from the farm‧yard 农场‧院子.

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Chapter 20. A GREAT FLURRY

There was a great flurry 慌张 among Farmer Green's hens 母鸡. They all insisted 咬定 on talking at the same time, because they had heard an astonishing 使惊讶 bit of news. It was about Henrietta Hen. Wherever 随地 she went her neighbors craned 起重机 their necks at her, just as if they hadn't seen her every day for as long as they could remember.

Henrietta Hen enjoyed the notice that everybody took of her. She went to some trouble to move about a good deal, so that all might have a chance to stare at her. For if there was one thing she liked, it was attention.

There was a reason why Henrietta had suddenly become the most talked-of member of the flock 群. She was going to the county 县 fair! Further‧more 此外, she expected to take all her children with her. There wasn't the least doubt that it was all true. The whole flock 群 had heard Johnnie Green and his father talking about it.

Of course everybody asked Henrietta Hen a great number of questions. When was she going to leave? How long did she expect to stay at the fair? What did she intend to do there? Would she wear her best clothes if it rained? There was no end to such inquiries 调查.

Unfortunately 不幸, Henrietta Hen could answer very few of them. Never having visited a fair, she had no idea what a fair was like. She only guessed that when the time came, she and her family would be put into a pen 笔, loaded upon a wagon 车皮, and jolted 颠簸 over the road that led to the fair, wherever 随地 it might be.

But Henrietta didn't intend to let her neighbors find out how little she knew about fairs. She said that before starting she expected to wait for the wagon 车皮, that she hoped to stay at the fair as long as it lasted (because she didn't want to miss anything!) and that she intended to come home when the wagon 车皮 brought her. Further‧more 此外, she planned to wear her best apron 围裙, anyhow, because there was sure to be fair weather at a fair! How could it be otherwise?

Old Ebenezer, the horse, told her to be sure to see the races.

"They're the best part of a fair," he said. "In my younger days I used to take part in them." And then he added, "There's nothing else at a fair that's worth looking at."

"What about the poultry 家禽 show?" Henrietta Hen asked him. She didn't know what poultry 家禽 shows were; but she had heard Farmer Green mention them.

"I never paid any attention to the poultry 家禽 exhibit 展示," the horse Ebenezer replied. "I never took part in that. I suppose it might interest you, however."

Henrietta Hen smiled a knowing sort of smile. And she remarked to Polly Plymouth Rock, who stood near her, that she didn't believe the old horse knew a race from a poultry 家禽 show. "If he ever went to a fair, I dare say he was hitched 拴住 outside the fence," she sniffed 吸气.

Polly Plymouth Rock cackled with amusement 娱乐. And she said something that displeased Henrietta Hen exceedingly 非常.

"Are you going to take that duckling that you hatched 孵化 out?" she asked.

"Certainly not!" Henrietta snapped 卡. "Please—Miss Plymouth Rock—never mention him again! I'm going to the fair, among strangers 陌生人. And I shouldn't care to have them know about that accident 意外事件 that happened to me—not for anything!"

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Chapter 21. OFF FOR THE FAIR

It seemed to Henrietta Hen that the time for the fair would never come. She had begun to feel some‧what 有些 uneasy 不安, because she had talked so much about visiting the fair with her children that it would be very awkward 难堪 if she didn't go. So she was delighted one day by the noise of hammering 铁锤 and sawing that came from the work‧bench 工作‧长凳 at the end of the wagon 车皮-shed. A merry 愉快的 noise it was, to Henrietta's ears; for she guessed at once what was happening. Farmer Green and his son were building a pen 笔 in which she and her family were to ride to the fair!

The news spread like fire in sun-dried grass 草. Henrietta Hen took pains that it should. She told everybody she saw that she expected to leave at any moment. And she began to say good-by to all her friends.

Since Henrietta didn't start for the fair that day, before night‧fall 夜‧落下 she had bade every one fare‧well 告别 at least a dozen times. And when, the following dawn 黎明, Henrietta started the day not by saying "Good morning!" but by bidding 出价 her neighbors "Good-by!" once more, they began to think her a bit tire‧some 使…疲惫‧一些.

"What! Haven't you gone yet?" they asked her.

"No! But I expect to leave at any moment," Henrietta told them. She was so excited that she couldn't eat her break‧fast 早餐. But her chicks 小鸡 had no such trouble. And perhaps it was just as well that Henrietta Hen had her hands full looking after them and trying to keep them all under her eye, and spick-and-span 跨度 for the journey 旅行. Otherwise she would have been in more of a flutter 扑 than she was.

While Henrietta had an eye on her children, she tried to keep the other on the barn 谷仓. And after what seemed to her hours of watching and waiting, she saw Johnnie Green lead the old horse Ebenezer out of the door, with his harness 马具 on. Henrietta promptly 敏捷的 forgot her stately manners. She ran squalling across the farm‧yard 农场‧院子 and called to Ebenezer, "Where are you going?"

"I understand that I'm going to the fair," he told her, as Johnnie Green backed him between the thills of a wagon 车皮. "Once I would have been hitched 拴住 to a light buggy, with a sulky tied behind it. But now I've got to take you and your family in this rattlety old contraption."

Henrietta Hen didn't wait to hear any more. She turned and hurried back, to gather her youngsters 青少年 and bid 出价 everybody another fare‧well 告别.

Amid a great clucking and squawking, Johnnie Green and his father put Henrietta and her chicks 小鸡 into the pen 笔 and placed it in the back of the wagon 车皮.

"We're all ready!" Henrietta cried to Ebenezer. The old horse didn't even turn his head, for he could see backwards 向后的 as well as forwards, because he wore no blinders. He made no direct reply to Henrietta, though he gave a sort of grunt 咕噜, as if the whole affair did not please him. He knew that it was a long distance to the fairgrounds and the road was hilly.

"She thinks it a lark," he said to the dog Spot, who hung about as if he were waiting for something. "She's lucky 幸运, for she won't have to go on her own legs, for miles and miles."

"That's just what I intend to do," Spot informed him. "They don't mean to take me. But I'm going to follow you, right under the wagon 车皮, where Johnnie Green and his father can't see me."

So they started off. And they had scarcely passed through the gate 门 when Henrietta began to clamor 叫嚣 in her shrillest tones 音. But nobody paid any heed to her. The wagon 车皮 clattered 哒 off down the road. And old dog Spot smiled to himself as he trotted 小跑 along beneath 之下 it.

"Henrietta just remembered that she forgot to put on her best apron 围裙," he chuckled 暗笑.

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Chapter 22. ALMOST HOMESICK

Never in all her life had Henrietta Hen seen so many hens 母鸡 and roosters and chicks 小鸡 as she found on every side of her, at the fair. Farmer Green and his son Johnnie had set her pen 3 in the Poultry Hall. And to Henrietta's surprise, none of her new neighbors paid much attention to her and her chicks 小鸡—at first. She soon decided that there was a reason for this neglect 疏忽. She made up her mind that she would have to make her‧self 她自己 heard amid 际 all that uproar or the others would never know she had arrived.

Luckily Henrietta had a strong voice. She used it to the utmost 极. And it wasn't long before a huge 巨大 hen 母鸡 in a pen next hers gave her a bold 胆大的；醒目的 look and asked, "What are you here for?"

"I've come to get the first prize 奖赏," Henrietta answered calmly 镇定的. She had listened carefully 小心 to what Farmer Green and Johnnie had said to each other during the journey 旅行 from the farm. And already she knew something about fairs.

Her new neighbor laughed right in Henrietta's face.

"I don't see how you can win the first prize," she said with a sniff 吸气. "I'm going to get the first prize 3 myself 我. There never was another such fine family as mine." She glanced 一瞥 proudly at her chicks 小鸡 as she spoke. "The best you can hope for," she told Henrietta, "is the second prize. And you'll be lucky 幸运 if you get the third."

For once Henrietta Hen was at a loss for a retort 反驳.

"I don't believe you've ever been at a fair before," her new neighbor observed.

Henrietta admitted faintly 微弱的 that she hadn't.

"Last year I won second prize," said the other. "I'd have had the first if the judges had known their business."

Henrietta Hen began to feel very shaky 摇摇欲坠 in her legs. She had expected a different sort of greeting 欢迎, when she should arrive at the fair. She had thought everybody would exclaim 喊叫, "Here comes Henrietta Hen! What a fine family of chicks 小鸡 she has! And aren't Mrs. Hen's speckles beautiful 美丽?"

And there she was, with nobody paying any heed to her, except the lofty 高远 dame in the next pen, who had said nothing very agree‧able 合适的.

"Oh, dear!" Henrietta sighed 叹. "I wish I'd never left home."

"What's that?" her neighbor inquired in a sharp tone 音. "You aren't home‧sick 家‧病；恶心, are you?"

"N-no!" said Henrietta. "But I had expected to win the first prize. And I don't know what my friends will say when I come back home without it."

"Well, everybody can't win it," said her new acquaintance 熟人. "Not the same year, anyhow!" And then she looked Henrietta up and down for a few moments, while Henrietta squirmed uneasily 不安. "Where do you come from?" she asked at last.

"I live on Farmer Green's place, in Pleasant Valley," Henrietta informed her.

The lady in the next pen shook her head. "I've never heard of Pleasant Valley," she remarked, "nor of Farmer Green. He must be small potatoes 土豆."

Well, Henrietta was astonished. She began to feel as if she were nobody at all. She had supposed that everybody knew of Pleasant Valley—and of Farmer Green, too. As for the remark, "small potatoes," she didn't understand it at all. So she inquired what it meant.

"It means," said her neighbor, "that Farmer Green can't be of much account."

That speech made Henrietta Hen almost lose her temper.

"Mr. Green," she cried, "is a fine man. And I'll have you know that I wouldn't live any‧where 任何地方 but on his farm!"

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Chapter 23. GETTING ACQUAINTED

Not liking her neighbor on her right, at the fair, Henrietta Hen sidled up to the wire netting 网 on the opposite side of her pen. Peering through it, she examined the person whom 谁 she saw just beyond, in a pen of her own.

A very sleek 光滑 hen 母鸡 was this, who gave Henrietta a slight nod.

"We may as well speak," she said, "since we're to live next to each other for a week."

"A week!" Henrietta groaned 呻吟. "Shall I have to stay cooped up here as long as that?"

"Yes!" said Neighbor Number 2. "And I don't blame 指责 you for feeling as you seem to. A week is a long time for everybody here—except me."

Henrietta Hen didn't understand her.

"I'm going to win the first prize—with my chicks 小鸡," Neighbor Number 2 announced 宣布. "Of course that's worth waiting here a week."

"I don't see how you can win the first prize!" Henrietta exclaimed 喊叫.

"Why not?" demanded the other. And she pressed against the wire netting of her pen and stuck stick her head through it as far as she could, as if she would have pecked 啄 Henrietta had she been able to.

"Because—" Henrietta explained—"because the lady on the other side of me is going to win it."

"Who said so?"

"She did," Henrietta answered.

"Ha! ha!" cackled Neighbor Number 2. "That's a good joke 3. She hasn't any more chance of winning than—than you have!"

Now, Henrietta Hen couldn't help being puzzled. But who‧ever 无论谁 might win the first prize, she was sure it couldn't be she. Hadn't her neighbors on either side of her the same as told her that she couldn't win?

Henrietta would have felt quite glum, except that she couldn't very well mope in the midst 中间 of the terrific 了不起 racket 球拍 all about her. Soon her neighbors—both Number 1 and Number 2—were having loud disputes 争议 with the hens 母鸡 in the pens 笔 on the further side of them. It seemed as if every hen 母鸡 at the fair had left her manners at home—if she ever had any.

"Goodness!" Henrietta Hen murmured 私语 to her‧self 她自己. "If there's a prize, it must be for the one that can make the most noise."

In a little while throngs 人群 of men, women and children crowded into the Poultry Hall. They paused before the pens and looked at the occupants 占有者, making remarks that were sometimes full of praise 3 and sometimes slighting.

Henrietta Hen felt terribly uneasy 不安 when people began to stop and stare at her. She dreaded 恐惧 to hear what they would say. After the way her next-door neighbors had talked to her she didn't believe anybody would have a word of praise for her.

She soon heard all sorts of remarks about her‧self 她自己. Some said she was too little and some said she was too big; others exclaimed 喊叫 that her legs were too short, while still others declared that they were too long! As these—and many similar 类似—comments 评论 fell upon Henrietta's ears she promptly decided that there wasn't anything about her that was as it should be.

Having always called her‧self 她自己 (before she left home) a "speckled beauty," she began to feel very low in her mind. And there was only one thing that kept her from being down‧right 彻头彻尾 sad 悲哀的. All the sightseers agreed that she had some pretty chicks 小鸡.

Henrietta couldn't help wishing that they had a different mother—one that was worthy 值得 of them.

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Chapter 24. WINNING FIRST PRIZE

Henrietta Hen was waiting as patiently as she could for the fair to come to an end. She tried to close her ears to the boasts 自夸 of her neighbors on either side of her, that they were going to win the first prize. She had heard too many unpleasant 不愉快 remarks about her‧self 她自己 to have even the slightest hope of winning any prize at all—let alone the first.

"Anyhow, we'll be going home tonight 今晚," Henrietta said to her‧self 她自己. "And I'll never, never, never come to another fair. I'll go and hide 'way up high in the haymow where they can't find me before I'll spend another week in a place like this."

While she was muttering 咕哝 under her breath like that some men came up to her pen. And Henrietta Hen promptly squatted 蹲 down in the furthest corner of it, hoping they wouldn't say anything disagree‧able 不同意‧能够的 about her. She felt that she had already heard about all she could stand. She didn't even look at her callers 呼叫者. And soon they moved away.

Then Henrietta glanced 一瞥 up. She noticed something blue dangling 吊着 from the front of her pen. And there was a greater commotion than ever on all sides of her.

"What is it?" she cried. "What has happened?"

Neighbor Number 1, on her right, shot shoot a spiteful look at her.

"Those stupid 愚蠢的 judges!" she spluttered. "They've made a terrible blunder 错误. They've gone and given you and your chicks 小鸡 the first prize. And of course it was meant for me and mine!"

"It wasn't!" screamed 叫喊 Neighbor Number 2 (on Henrietta's left). "That prize was intended for me and my children!"

"Who won second and third?" cried a noisy 嘈杂 hen 母鸡 from across the way.

"They're both at the other end of the hall!" somebody shrieked 尖叫.

"It's an out‧rage 暴行! It isn't fair! We've been cheated 欺骗!" Henrietta Hen's nearest neighbors clamored 叫嚣. But nobody paid any attention to them.

As for Henrietta, she didn't quite know how to act. She had intended, when she left home, to do a good deal of strutting 支撑 back and forth in her pen, with now and then a pause 暂停 to preen her‧self 她自己, to make sure that she looked her best. But somehow she no longer cared to put on grand 宏大的 airs, as of old. She remembered that some of the other hens 母鸡 at the fair had been haughty and proud and had smoothed their feathers, declaring boldly 胆大的；醒目的 that they expected to win the first prize.

Henrietta had heard it said that fine feathers don't make fine birds. And she knew at last what that meant. It meant that gay 快乐的 clothes and lofty 高远 ways and boastful talk were of no account at all.

So Henrietta tried to behave 表现 as if nothing unusual 异常 had happened. She told her chicks 小鸡 that they were going home that evening, and that she would be glad to be back on the farm again, among plain home-folks 民间.

At last Johnnie Green and his father came to load Henrietta and her family into the wagon 车皮.

"Well," said the old horse Ebenezer to Henrietta. "Did you enjoy the races?"

"I didn't have a chance to see them," she replied.

"That's a pity 怜悯," he told her. And then he asked her, "What's that blue tag 标签 hanging from your pen?"

"That—" said Henrietta—"that means that my chicks 小鸡 won the first prize."

"She helped win it her‧self 她自己," cried old dog Spot, who was yelping about the wagon 车皮. "Our little speckled hen 母鸡 was the best hen 母鸡 at the fair!"

"Nonsense!" Henrietta exclaimed 喊叫. But, all the same, she couldn't help being pleased.

THE END