Lesson:

1. There was once a pretty chicken;


But his friends were very few,


For he thought that there was nothing


In the world but what he knew:


So he always, in the farmyard,


Had a very forward way,


Telling all the hens and turkeys


What they ought to do and say.


'Mrs. Goose,' he said, 'I wonder


That your goslings you should let


Go out paddling in the water;


It will kill them to get wet.'





2. 'I wish, my old Aunt Dorking,'


He began to her, one day,


'That you wouldn't sit all summer


In your nest upon the hay.


Won't you come out to the meadow,


Where the grass with seeds is filled?'


'If I should,' said Mrs. Dorking,


'Then my eggs would all get chilled.'


'No, they won't,' replied the chicken,


'And no matter if they do;


Eggs are really good for nothing;


What's an egg to me or you?'





3. 'What's an egg!' said Mrs. Dorking,


Can it be you do not know


You yourself were in an eggshell


Just one little month ago?


And, if kind wings had not warmed you,


You would not be out today,


Telling hens, and geese, and turkeys,


What they ought to do and say!





4. 'To be very wise, and show it,


Is a pleasant thing, no doubt;


But, when young folks talk to old folks,


They should know what they're about.'





Marian Douglas.





DEFINITIONS


1. Farmyard: The enclosed ground attached to a barn and other farm buildings.


1. Forward: Bold, confident.


1. Turkey: A large, domestic fowl.


1. Goslings: Young geese.


1. Paddling: Beating the water with the feet. swimming.


2. Dorking: A species of chicken.