d hard to get away. But the children hugged
them tight, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them through the
wood, forgetting, in their joy, even to say "Thank you" to the little
Brownie.

When they reached their mother she was as glad as they, for she never
thought to see her ducklings again; and to have them back alive and
uninjured, and watch them running to the old hen, who received them with
an ecstasy of delight, was so exciting, that nobody thought of asking a
single question as to where they had been found.

When the mother did ask, the children told her about Brownie's taking
them to the beautiful pond--and what a wonderful pond it was; how green
the trees were round it; and how large the primroses grew. They never
tired of talking about it and seeking for it. But the odd thing was
that, seek as they might, they never could find it again. Many a day did
the little people roam about one by one, or all together, round the
wood, often getting themselves sadly draggled with mud and torn with
brambles--but the beautiful pond they never found again.

Nor did the ducklings, I suppose; for they wandered no more from the
farmyard, to the old mother-hen's great content. They grew up into fat
and respectable ducks--five white ones and three gray ones--waddling
about, very content, though they never saw water, except the tank which
was placed for them to paddle in. They lived a lazy, peaceful, pleasant
life for a long time, and were at last killed and eaten with green peas,
one after the other, to the family's great satisfaction, if not to their
own.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

ADVENTURE THE FOURTH

BROWNIE'S RIDE

FOR the little Brownie, though not given to horsemanship, did once take
a ride, and a very remarkable one it was. Shall I tell you all about it?

The six little children got a present of something they had longed for
all their lives--a pony. Not a rocking-horse, but a real live pony--a
Shetland pony, too, which had traveled all the way from the Shetland
Isles to Devonshire--where every body wondered at it, for such a
creature had not been seen in the neighborhood for years and years. She
was no bigger than a donkey, and her coat, instead of being smooth like
a horse's, was shaggy like a young bear's. She had a long tail, which
had never been cut, and such a deal of hair in her mane and over her
eyes that it gave her quite a fierce countenance. In fact, among the
mild and tame Devon