, who was quite unlike his brothers and sisters. Indeed, he was
such a strange, queer-looking creature, that when he first chipped his
shell his mother could scarcely believe her eyes, he was so different
from the twelve other fluffy, downy, soft little chicks who nestled
under her wings. This one looked just as if he had been cut in two. He
had only one leg, and one wing, and one eye, and he had half a head and
half a beak. His mother shook her head sadly as she looked at him and
said:

'My youngest born is only a half-chick. He can never grow up a tall
handsome cock like his brothers. They will go out into the world and
rule over poultry yards of their own; but this poor little fellow will
always have to stay at home with his mother.' And she called him Medio
Pollito, which is Spanish for half-chick.

Now though Medio Pollito was such an odd, helpless-looking little thing,
his mother soon found that he was not at all willing to remain under her
wing and protection. Indeed, in character he was as unlike his brothers
and sisters as he was in appearance. They were good, obedient chickens,
and when the old hen chicked after them, they chirped and ran back to
her side. But Medio Pollito had a roving spirit in spite of his one leg,
and when his mother called to him to return to the coop, he pretended
that he could not hear, because he had only one ear.

When she took the whole family out for a walk in the fields, Medio
Pollito would hop away by himself, and hide among the Indian corn. Many
an anxious minute his brothers and sisters had looking for him, while
his mother ran to and fro cackling in fear and dismay.

As he grew older he became more self-willed and disobedient, and his
manner to his mother was often very rude, and his temper to the other
chickens very disagreeable.

One day he had been out for a longer expedition than usual in the
fields. On his return he strutted up to his mother with the peculiar
little hop and kick which was his way of walking, and cocking his one
eye at her in a very bold way he said:

'Mother, I am tired of this life in a dull farmyard, with nothing but a
dreary maize field to look at. I'm off to Madrid to see the King.'

'To Madrid, Medio Pollito!' exclaimed his mother; 'why, you silly chick,
it would be a long journey for a grown-up cock, and a poor little thing
like you would be tired out before you had gone half the distance. No,
no, stay at home with your mother, and some day, w