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| Collect all the cleaned pages and scale them to make a thumbnail Book for your dolls |
To the left, is an illustration of a hen and her hair. You can gather all of the bird illustrations and verses from “Bird Children” to print and create a little book of poetry for your dolls this summer. Simply drag each png file. In the Word document, print, cut out all the images to the same size and staple the pages together along the edge of the provided page. Scoop some white school glue along the edge of the pages and attach a cardboard cover.
Mrs Hen, kind old lady,
always wear the same thing;
She talks all day about her joys
And lays cute eggs for girls and boys.
Additional authors:
“I wonder why they are, and why there are thirteen of them,” said Mrs. Dorking.
As she said this, she looked at the many cute eggs that one of them had laid in his nest. You should know that Mrs. Dorking was a hen, and a young one too (indeed it only seemed a day or so because people used to call her a hen), and so she wasn’t expected to know all the things she married that people knew.
“thirteen!” she said again. “The idea of anyone putting thirteen eggs in my nest. We all know that’s an unlucky number, and-”
But then Mrs. Cochin came and heard what Mrs. Dorking was saying. Now Mrs. Cochin was an older hen and had been married a year or two, so she knew all about housekeeping.
“The eggs are yours,” she said. ‘You sit on it and keep it as warm as you can, and a nice little chicken will come out of every egg. As for the number thirteen, you should know that with hatching eggs it is different than other things, and the number 13 is the luckiest of all. Take my word for it, Mrs. Dorking And never sit on an even number of eggs, like 10 or 12, but make it either 11 or 13 and you’ll definitely get healthy babies.”
So Mrs. Dorking sat on the eggs and made them as warm as she could. But after a few days I felt tired and uncomfortable. . She said, “It’s no fun to be silent alone for weeks in a dark room. I’d rather go out and scrape the worms.”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Cochin, “but in this world everyone has to do things that one does not like to do. There is Mr. and Mrs. Robin, for example, who work so hard to build their nest that they simply fall asleep at dinner every night, but they do it the same way.” Or they won’t have a home for their children when they come in. You hatch those eggs like a reasonable hen, and in a few weeks you’ll be glad you did.”
So Mrs. Dorking settled down again, feeling very rebellious, if the truth must be told.
But one day a curious thing happened. And suddenly there was a funny little clicking that seemed to come from below, and looking down, she saw that one of the eggs had a crack right across it. “God’s vast mercy!” She exclaimed, “I have already broken one of them in spite of all my care.” Then suddenly an idea occurred to her.
“Oh oh!” She exclaimed excitedly, “I wonder if they might be hatching?” In response there was another tap, after which the tap continued intermittently, then a little “peep, peep” came out, then a little “peep, peep” went in again. She looks down closely to keep the eggs as warm as she can.
Soon, six small fluffy heads appeared from under her wings. “Peep, peep! Please let us out,” they shouted.
But she remained in her nest until the thirteen chicks hatched.
On the first day she appeared with her family at the Farmyard, she was to hear the kind things said about her by others at the Farmyard. ill made. Dorking is proud and has repaid her whatever she waits for.
“Well, I declare!” she said joyfully to Mrs. Kochin. “This number 13 is lucky, after all.” Henry Altmus Company.
Additional links to articles / crafts / videos about the rooster: