DAFFY-DOWN-DILLY
"DAFFY-DOWN-DILLY has come to town
In a yellow petticoat and a green gown,"
sang the farmer's pretty daughter beneath Puss, Junior's, window. There she stood, bending over her flower bed, the pink strings of her bonnet floating on the morning breeze.
Puss hurriedly pulled on his boots and ran outside. "Good morning! I see your flowers are still in bed."
"Daffy and Down and Dilly are very lazy, I fear," laughed the farmer's pretty daughter; "they'll never get to town to buy a new gown if they don't hurry."
"I hope they won't meet any bad crows on their journey," replied Puss.
"And I hope they won't have any bumpety bumps!" said the farmer's pretty daughter.
Just then the farmer came out of the barn leading Puss, Junior's, Good Gray Horse.
"Good-by," said Puss. "I've had a pleasant visit." And off he rode. By and by, after a while, he met an old crow walking along the top of the fence. He wore a silk hat and carried a cane, but he couldn't lean on it, for the fence rail was so narrow, you see.
"Hello!" said Puss, Junior. And, goodness me! that well-dressed crow nearly lost his balance, he was so startled at Puss, Junior's voice.
Well, as soon as he had caught his breath, he said:
"I have just found a beautiful pearl necklace. Do you think it belongs to the Queen of Hearts?"
"I'm sure I don't know," answered Puss. "Suppose you come along with me and maybe we'll find the owner."
So the silk-hatted old crow sat himself down behind Puss, and the Good Gray Horse kicked out his heels, and away they went to the next village, and when they reached there they stopped before the office of the Mother Goose daily newspaper and asked the man who ran the "Lost and Found" advertisements if he knew who had lost a beautiful pearl necklace of twenty-three pearls and a little diamond clasp?
"Let me think," he said, scratching the top of his head, which was as bald as a billiard ball. You see, he was a bald-headed eagle, although I forgot to mention it before.
"You might inquire at a little green house about a mile down the road. A little yellow hen lives there who once had a coral necklace." So Puss said gid-ap to the Good Gray Horse and rode away, and by and by, after a while, they came to the little green house. And when the old crow knocked on the door it was opened by the little yellow hen herself.
"Have you lost a necklace of pearls?" he asked, politely doffing his silk hat.
"Dearie me! Let me look," she answered, hopping back into her little house. Pretty soon she came back with a little jewel case, which was as empty as a Christmas stocking on the Fourth of July.
"Who could have taken it out?" she said.
So the honest old crow handed over the pearl necklace, and went inside for a cup of tea, while Puss said good-by and rode away.