Oh, dear, no!" giggled a jolly little Bantam Chicken. "I'd grow one in
a minute if I could."

This made all the other young fowls laugh, for they thought how funny
the little brown Bantam would look dragging around a great mass of
feathers like that.

The Peacock did not even smile. He never understood a joke anyway. He
was always so busy thinking about himself that he couldn't see the
point. Now he cleared his throat and spoke to the Bantam Chicken.

"I hope you don't think that I grew my train in a minute," said he. "It
took me a long, long time, although I kept all the feathers going at
once."

"Look at his crest!" exclaimed one young Turkey in his piping voice.

The Peacock turned his head so that they could see it more plainly.
"That is a crest to be proud of," he said. "I have never seen a finer
one myself. Have you noticed the beauty of my neck?"

"Charming!" "Wonderful!" "Beautiful!" exclaimed the young fowls. Just
then one of the spoiled Dove children flew down from the barn roof and
sat beside the Peacock.

"What homely feet you have!" this Squab exclaimed. "Are you not
dreadfully ashamed of them?"

The young fowls thought this rude. Not one of them would have said it.
The Peacock became very angry. "I know my feet are not so handsome as
they might be," he said, "but that is no reason why I should be ashamed
of them. I couldn't help having that kind of feet. They run in my
family. I don't feel ashamed of things I can't help."

The young fowls felt so uncomfortable after this that they walked away,
and the Squab flew back to the Dove-cote. For a time nobody spoke. Then
a Gosling, who had heard her mother talk about the Peacock, said, "I
should think he would be proud of his train, and his crest, and his
neck, and--and everything!"

"Everything except his feet," giggled the Bantam Chicken, "and you know
he couldn't help having them."

"I wonder if he could help having his train, and his crest, and his
neck, and--and everything?" said a young Turkey.

They all stopped where they were. "We never thought of that!" they
cried. "We never thought of that!"

"Let's go and ask the Blind Horse," said a Duckling. "He is a good
friend of mine, and he knows almost everything."

They stalked and waddled over to the Blind Horse, and the Duckling told
him what was puzzling them. The Blind Horse laughed very heartily. "So
the Peacock is proud of having grown such a fine train and crest, but he
isn't ashamed of