ing, "Of course we work for
our living--why shouldn't we?" they say, "Why, yes, we do let the
farmer's wife have some of our feathers when she wants them. We suppose
you might call it work to grow feathers for her, still it does not take
much of our time, and it is quite different from drawing loads and
getting tired as the Horses and Oxen do. Growing feathers is genteel."

They do not remember anything long, and so, when they have made a
mistake once, they are likely to make the same mistake over and over
again. Then, too, they cannot tell big things from little things, and
they are not happy unless they can have their own way all the time. And
you know that nobody can be sure of that. It all comes of their not
being willing to think hard, and sometimes it makes them a great deal of
trouble, as it did on the day when the Gray Goose would not go through
the farmyard gate.

This was soon after the Gander and his wife had hatched their brood of
seven Goslings, and they were taking them at once to the brook. It was
a happy day for all the flock. The Gander and the Mother Goose were glad
because their children were safely out of the shell, and because they
would no longer have to sit with cramped legs on the nest. Ganders are
good fathers, for they cover the eggs half of the time, while the Mother
Goose is resting. The other Geese were not only proud of the Goslings,
but they were glad to have the Gander and the Mother Goose free to go
around with them again. They had missed them very much.

The gate from the farmyard into the meadow stood wide open, and all the
Geese except the Gray one followed the Gander through. The Gray Goose
tried to go through a small hole in the fence very near the gate. She
squeezed her head into it and stretched her neck on the meadow side of
the fence, but she could not get any farther, although she pushed until
she was dizzy.

[Illustration: THE GRAY GOOSE TRIED TO GO THROUGH.]

"Wait for me," she cried. "Wait for me-ee!"

"Hurry, then," said the Gander.

"I am hurrying," she cried, and she pushed with all her strength, but
since the hole in the fence was so small, she did not get any farther
than before.

"Go through the gateway," said the Nigh Ox, who was grazing near by.

"Sssss!" said the Gray Goose stiffly. "I would rather go through here. I
have chosen to go this way."

"Oh!" said the Nigh Ox, "excuse me! Do go through there by all means!"

"We are going on," called the Gander