The poor hens wept as they followed behind. "I never was so humiliated in my life," said one old hen, "and it is not right."
The next day there was so much dissatisfaction because of the gobbler's overbearing way that the dog decided that the drake must take his turn.
"Everybody must learn to swim," said the drake as soon as he was appointed ruler. "Come down to the pond," and off he started, his family waddling after him.
"What did I tell you?" said the old hen. "This will be the end of us."
The geese did not mind being in the water part of the time, but the turkeys set up such a gobble and the hens cackled so loudly that the dog had to decide right there that the drake was not a suitable king.
The gander, knowing that his time had come, stretched his neck and looked very important.
"You need not go near the pond," he said to the hens, "but you must learn to fly," and he spread out his wings as he spoke and flew over the fence, the geese following him.
The turkeys flew to the top of the fence and roosted there, but the hens and ducks stood on the ground, looking up at them in the most discouraged way, and at the gobbler, who gobbled at them, saying, "You are to be pitied, for you do not see all the sights we do and you never can fly to the top of this fence.
"There is the master," he said. "He is coming down the road and he has something under his arm. I'll tell you what it is when he gets nearer."
The hens were trying to look under the fence and through the holes.