green shutters, which stands
on the hill.

[Illustration]

The End

* * * * *
* * * *

The Cock, the Mouse and the little Red Hen

Once upon a time there was a hill, and on the hill there was a
pretty little house. It had one little green door, and four little
windows with green shutters, and in it there lived a Cock and a
Mouse and a Little Red Hen[.]

On another hill close by there was another little house. It was very
ugly. It had a door that wouldn't shut, and two broken windows, and
all the paint was off the shutters[.] And in this house there lived
a Bold Bad Fox and Four Bad Little Foxes[.]

One morning these four bad little foxes came to the big bad Fox and
said:

"Oh, Father, we're so hungry!"

"We had nothing to eat yesterday," said one.

"And scarcely anything the day before," said another.

"And only half a chicken the day before that," said the third.

"And only two little ducks the day before that," said the fourth.

The big bad Fox shook his head for a long time, for he was thinking.
At last he said in a big gruff voice: "On that hill over there I see
a house. And in that house there lives a Cock."

"And a Mouse," screamed two of the little foxes.

"And a little Red Hen," screamed the other two.

"And they are nice and fat," went on the big bad Fox. "This very
day, I'll take my great sack, and I will go up that hill, and in at
that door, and into my sack I will put the Cock, and the Mouse, and
the little Red Hen."

"I'll make a fire to roast the Cock," said one little fox.

"I'll put on the saucepan to boil the Hen," said the second.

"And I'll get the frying pan to fry the Mouse," said the third.

"And I'll have the biggest helping when they are all cooked," said
the fourth, who was the greediest of all. So the four little foxes
jumped for joy, and the big bad Fox went to get his sack ready to
start upon his journey.

But what was happening to the Cock and the Mouse, and the little Red
Hen, all this time? Well, sad to say, the Cock and the Mouse had
both got out of bed on the wrong side that morning. The Cock said
the day was too hot, and the Mouse grumbled because it was too cold.
They came grumbling down to the kitchen, where the good little Red
Hen, looking as bright as a sunbeam, was bustling about.

"Who'll get some sticks to light the fire with?" she asked.

"_I_ shan't," said the Cock.

"_I_