Six Little Ducklings
Written and Illustrated
by
New York
Dodd, Mead & Company
1915
Copyright, 1915
By Dodd, Mead & Company
Six Little Ducklings
I
OLD MOTHER DUCK and her six littleducklings lived in a hollow treedown by the river, and here they wereall as happy as the day was long. They had thewhole of the broad bright river to swim about on,and there was no one to bother them or drivethem about.
Mother Duck had not always lived in the hollowtree. Once she had lived in a farmyardback in the country and away from the river.But she had not been very happy there. For onething, there was a very cross old watch-dog in thefarmyard. He was kept chained to his dog-housethrough the day, and never set loose untilthe other animals had gone to bed, but he usedto snap at the ducks and chickens whenever theycame near his dog-house, and that frightenedthem.
Then there was no place to swim but in amuddy little duck-pond that almost dried up inthe heat of summer.
But the worst thing of all at the farmhousewas the way the farmer’s wife used to steal theduck’s eggs. No matter how carefully Mrs.Duck hid her eggs, Mrs. Farmer always foundthem and took them away. Once she put a numberof them in a hen’s nest, and allowed a hen toset on them. After a while the hen hatched outeleven of the cunningest, fuzziest, yellowestducklings that ever were seen. The hen wasjust as pleased and proud as though she had laidthe eggs herself. But she didn’t in the leastknow how to bring up a brood of ducklings.Mrs. Duck could see that very plainly. Shedidn’t even want them to get their feet wet andshe almost had a fit when they went into thewater one day.
After that Mrs. Duck made up her mind shewould not stay at the farm any longer. She[3]
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