The Gray Gooses Story | Page 7

coaxing or threats,
and, finally, discouraged and with his coat torn in two places, the man
went into the house to tell his visitors that he couldn't have company to
dinner that day.
[Illustration: A Race for Life.]
"When he had got inside the house Mr. Rooster crept out from under
the barn, and crowed up to Mr. Turkey: 'Do you-think-he's-gone-for
goo-o-o-d?'
"And the suspicious Mr. Turkey gobbled back:
"'Doubtful! Doubtful! Doubtful! Doubtful!'
"That Mr. Rooster had a good deal more sense than our Mr. Dorking,
who made such a fool of himself last summer. It isn't much of a story;
but it shows how silly some people are," and once more Mrs. Goose
looked at Mr. Gander.

WHEN THE ROOSTER FOUND THE MOON.
"I would like very much to hear the story," your Aunt Amy said, and
she spoke the truth, for thus far Mrs. Goose had been most entertaining.
"It's kind of you to say so," Mrs. Goose replied with a smirk. "If I keep
on at this rate you'll think I like to talk as well as Mamma Speckle does;
but I've heard of you so often from our people around here, that it
seemed as if I must have a whole lot of stories to tell, else you'd say I

wasn't much of anybody after all. But about Mr. Dorking Rooster: it
seems that one night he couldn't sleep, on account of having eaten too
much, and for the first time in his life he saw the moon and the stars.
"The next day, when he was going across the front yard, he saw one of
those large rubber balls, painted in bright colors, such as Mr. Man's
children use to play with in the house, and after looking it over
carefully he decided that he knew what it was.
[Illustration: Mr. Dorking Finds the Moon.]
"'This must be the moon I saw last night,' he said to himself; 'but it
don't seem to shine as it did then. Perhaps it doesn't give out any light
till after sunset, so I'll wait till then to see it.'
"So Mr. Dorking sat down and waited. The sun set, and black clouds
covered the sky, but, yet the ball did not shine. All the other chickens
had gone to roost hours before; but Mr. Dorking kept on watching. It
began to rain; the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled. The rooster
was wet to the skin, and terribly frightened.
"'I'll save the moon,' he cried, and picking up the ball in his beak, which
wasn't an easy task, he ran as fast as he could to the hen-house; but
when he got there the storm had cleared away. Looking up, Mr.
Dorking saw the moon in the sky, and throwing the ball into the house,
he cried out to his wife:
"'What kind of a thing is this, anyway? I've been lugging it around for
an hour or more, and now there's another moon come to take its place.'
"'Come straight up here to your roost, you foolish old thing.' Mrs.
Dorking said angrily. 'If you had half as much sense as Mr. Monkey,
you could have taken the children and me on a picnic, instead of
fooling your time away with a rubber ball.'
"What did she mean by 'having as much sense as Mr. Monkey,'" your
Aunt Amy asked, and Mrs. Goose replied:

WHEN MRS. MONKEY WAS DISSATISFIED.
"Oh, it was an idea she got from some of Mr. Crow's poetry. All the
fowls on our farm have laughed at it time and time again. This is the
way it goes:
Said old Mrs. Monk one morning, "Look at me. I am tired of living in
this cocoa tree, You have got to go to work and rent a flat, For I'll not
live in this manner, mind you that."

Then when Mister Monkey heard all that she said, He thought of many
trades, and scratched his head What on earth could monkeys do to bring
in gold So a loving monkey wifey wouldn't scold?
Now what do you suppose the Monkey did? Do you think he climbed
the cocoa tree and hid? No; upon a jungle trolley he is there Hanging
by his legs and tail collecting fare."
Mrs. Goose would have been blind if she had not seen that your Aunt
Amy thought the jingle was very foolish, and she hastened to say:
[Illustration: Mr. Monkey listening to his Wife.]

HOW BUNNY RABBIT FOOLED GRANDFATHER STORK.
"I guess you think the same as does Grandfather Stork about some of
Mr. Crow's verses. He says that nobody but foolish geese would listen
to them, and yet there isn't anybody around here who doesn't like them.
Grandfather Stork don't know everything there is to be