with us, sir, you shall have as many mice as you can eat--a whole
house-full, if you like.'

"'Who may you be?' hissed the owl, and glared with its fiery eyes into
the cleft.

"'We come from Hencastle, where there are hundreds of mice, who devour
our corn day and night.

"'Whoo--hoo! I'll come, I'll come,' screamed the owl, snapping its beak
with pleasure.

"In the grey of the dawn the fowls sat on the roof-tree, listening to
Mark, the watchman, who stood on the top of, his chimney, and cried,

"'What do I see?
Here come the three!
And with them, I reckon,
A bird with no neck on.'

"Thereupon the owl and the three messengers flew up with a rush to the
top of the castle.

"'Ha! ha! I smell mice,' shrieked the new comer, and dashed through a
hole in the roof, from whence it shortly reappeared with a mouse in its
claws.

"This sight filled all the fowls with joy; and as they sat on the edge
of the roof in a row, they nudged each other, and remarked,

"'This has indeed been a happy venture.'

"For a few days everything went as smoothly as possible, but after a
time the mice began to find out that the owl could only see really well
at night, that it saw badly by day, and hardly at all when the midday
sun was shining through the window into the loft. So they only came out
at noon, and then dragged enough corn away into their holes to last them
till the following day.

"One night the owl did not catch a single mouse, and so, being very
hungry, drove its beak into some hen's eggs that lay in a corner, and
ate them. Finding them more to its taste than the fattest mouse, and
much less trouble to catch, henceforth the owl gave up mouse-hunting,
and took to egg-poaching. This the fowls presently discovered, and the
three wise cocks were sent to tell the owl to go away, as it was no
longer of use to anybody, for it never caught mice but only ate eggs.

"'Whoo--hoo! whoo--hoo! More eggs--give me more eggs, or I'll scratch
your eyes out,' shrieked the owl, and began to whet its beak on a beam
in such a savage manner that the three cocks fled in terror to the top
of the chimney.

"Having somewhat recovered from their alarm, they went down and told
Flaps, who was basking in the sunshine, that the owl must be got rid of.

"'What, are all the mice eaten, then?' inquired he.

"'Alas!' answered one of the cocks, 'the brute will eat nothing but eggs
now, and threatens to scratch our eyes out if we don't