to be talked out of it. If the others wished to
sit still and let the fox carry them away one at a time, that was one
thing, but for her to do nothing to keep her little goslings safe,--that
was quite another.

So that very evening, when the sun had gone down behind the hill, and
the chickens had perched themselves on the roost with the big cock at
the end, Mamma Goose led all the little goslings into Fido's house.
Every one laughed when she went in, but Mamma Goose had made up her
mind, and she kept straight on as if she had not heard them! But the big
white cock--he did not laugh at her!

So every night Mamma Goose led her babies into Fido's house, and every
morning brought them out again safe and whole. But always a little chick
was missing!

Then one night when the sun was sinking low, the big white cock flew up
to the top of the fence and crowed. All the chickens listened then,
while he told them that they were every one to go into old Fido's house
that night with Mamma Goose; for that was the only way to keep the fox
from carrying them all away.

Now when the big cock said that they were to do anything, it was always
done, and no words about it! So that night all the chickens went into
Fido's house. It was all they could do to get in, for the house was not
large; and some of them were not polite and pushed against the others to
make more room. But the big cock did all he could to keep them in order,
and at last all the little chicks went to sleep.

But the next morning when the farmer's boy came to scatter the corn for
breakfast, he looked at the empty roost and did not know what to think!

By and by, however, he found them and at first he only laughed, but
after he had seen that no little chick was missing, he looked as if he
were thinking, too. And that evening, when the sun had gone down behind
the hill, the farmer's boy came back, and who do you think was with
him?--old Fido, wagging his tail, and looking as if he were very glad to
get back!

The big white cock and all the chickens were just as glad as he was, for
now they knew that the fox would never come any more. Mamma Goose, too,
was just as glad as the rest, for now she knew that she would never need
to bother herself to think about the goslings again.

But she didn't dream that anything more could happen, and she was too
much surprised to think about anything at all, when old Fido came
trotting straight up to her, and wagged his tail just for