Produced by Ben Courtney and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THE WISE MAMMA GOOSE
By CHARLOTTE B. HERR
Designs FRANCES BEEM
1913
THIS LITTLE STORY IS TOLD AND THE LITTLE PICTURES WERE DRAWN FOR A GOOD LITTLE CHILD NAMED: _______________
THE WISE MAMMA GOOSE
Mamma Goose was trying to think. She had left the barnyard because it was so noisy there that she could not collect her wits, and had hidden herself between the rows of tall red hollyhocks which border one side of the garden. Here, at least, it was quiet.
Thinking had always been hard work for Mamma Goose. And besides, her family kept her so busy that she had no time for it anyway. There was always something to be done for the babies.
For Mamma Goose had a whole dozen of the dearest little goslings, and she was very proud of them. They were soft, and round, and fluffy, like little yellow balls, and besides being prettier than any other babies in the barnyard, they were so bright, too, and knew as much as any gosling could be expected to know,–far more than little Red Hen’s chicks, even though she did make such a fuss about them!
The goslings could hunt for their breakfasts almost as well as their mother, while little Red Hen had to scratch up every thing her children ate. And as for the water–well, the chicks were simply not in it there! They did not like to be in the water at all, but the goslings loved their morning bath in the brook better than anything else in the whole day.
Yes, her goslings were by far the finer babies! Mamma Goose swelled with pride when she thought of it, and carefully smoothed her feathers. She could have been perfectly happy except for just one thing. She was afraid that before long something dreadful might happen to the goslings, and once more she settled herself to think.
There was something wrong in the barnyard. What could it be that came each night when every one was sound asleep? And what was it that carried one of the chickens away each time so that, when the next morning came, there was always one less than there had been the day before? Whatever it was, it made no noise. Only, always the next morning some one was missing, and usually it was a little baby chick that was gone. The worst of it was that no one else knew any more about it than she did. To be sure, little Bantam Rooster had said it was the hawk. But then Bantam always thought he knew everything, and was almost always wrong, so that nobody ever believed anything he said.
Besides, if it had been, the big white cock would have known it, for the big white cock knew everything. He was the king of the barnyard, and took care of them all. He had a bright red comb and beautiful, long, green tail-feathers, and Mamma Goose thought him the most wonderful being in the whole world.
But something seemed to be wrong with him, too. He did not crow half so often as he used to, and his beautiful red comb did not stand stiff and straight any more. It drooped to one side and he looked very tired and very unhappy, as if he, too, had been trying to think. But if he did not know what it was that came night after night, then nobody knew.
Everything had been very different when old Fido lived in his little house by the barnyard gate. Nothing had ever happened to trouble them then. But old Fido was gone now, and nobody knew about that either. One morning after breakfast he had trotted off behind the wagon, and nobody had seen him since. Every one liked old Fido, and they all missed him, but he had never come back and his little house stood empty all night long.
Some thought that he had gone to take care of the sheep who lived in the big field on the other side of the hill. But it was only little Bantam Rooster who said so. Nobody knew. Things had been better, though, before Fido went away, for he had always stayed awake all night and watched to see that no harm came to any of them.
Then suddenly Mamma Goose had a thought, and a very bright idea it was, too. She would stay awake all night herself, and watch and see with her own eyes what it was that carried away the little chicks. As soon as she had made this plan she stopped thinking, for it was such hard work and the sun was getting very hot on her poor head. Besides, the goslings had been in the water long enough. They never did know when to come out!
So she waddled down to the brook to get them. Then they all went for a walk in the meadow where the red clover-tops nod in the wind, and Mamma Goose did no more thinking that day.
But when night came, she did not forget her plan. As soon as the sun had gone down behind the hill, the chickens all perched themselves along the roost with the big white cock at the end of the row, and soon they were all fast asleep. Little Red Hen gathered her chicks under her wing to keep them cosy and warm, and then she, too, went to sleep.
Mamma Goose tucked her babies in also, and spread her wings wide over them all, but she did not go to sleep.
Instead, she kept both eyes wide open and stared straight at the big white cock, that she might not go to sleep without knowing it. It was very hard to sit so long in the dark and keep awake. First one eye and then the other would close tight, but Mamma Goose would stretch them wide open again, and stare harder than ever at the big cock, and then she saw that the cock was watching, too, and that made it much easier.
Then it happened after a long time, when the moon had climbed high above the trees, and everything was very quiet, that a long, slim fox stole softly beneath the fence and came creeping–creeping across the barn yard. Mamma Goose was so frightened that she almost said “Quack! quack!” out loud, but still she kept her eyes on the big white cock, and that was a great help.
The fox was creeping softly toward the roost where the chickens slept in a row,–but not straight toward it. He was keeping as far away from old Fido’s house as he possibly could. Although she was so frightened, Mamma Goose wondered why. She had always heard that the fox was afraid of old Fido, but didn’t he know that Fido was far away? Didn’t he know that his little house was empty? It did not take the fox long, however, to creep softly past it, and in the morning another little chick was gone!
But a new thought had come to Mamma Goose. If the fox would not go near old Fido’s house, then he could not find the goslings if they hid inside. It seemed to Mamma Goose the only thing to do, and a very sensible plan indeed. She would ask all the chickens to come in, too, and then they would all be safe!
But when she went the next day to her best friends and told them about her plan, most of them only made fun of her, and all of them turned their backs on her. No one would listen!
But Mamma Goose was not 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 her alone, and told her how glad he was that she had been wise enough to use his house, and had taken such good care of the chickens while he was gone, and what a sensible little goose he thought she was! You might almost have knocked Mamma Goose over with one of her own feathers! She couldn’t imagine who had told him.
But perhaps it was the big white cock.
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WISE MAMMA GOOSE ***
***** This file should be named 11936.txt or 11936.zip ***** This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: http://www.gutenberg.net/1/1/9/3/11936/
Produced by Ben Courtney and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
Updated editions will replace the previous one–the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away–you may do practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at http://gutenberg.net/license).
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United States.
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
– You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and – You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of – You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work.
– You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES – Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND – If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY – You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official page at http://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
gbnewby@pglaf.org
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit http://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
ways including including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook’s eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving new filenames and etext numbers.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
http://www.gutenberg.net
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular search system you may utilize the following addresses and just download by the etext year.
http://www.gutenberg.net/etext06
(Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
http://www.gutenberg.net/1/0/2/3/10234
or filename 24689 would be found at:
http://www.gutenberg.net/2/4/6/8/24689
An alternative method of locating eBooks: http://www.gutenberg.net/GUTINDEX.ALL