“Let’s get Little Sister to go along,” said Older Brother.
“Why?” asked Younger Brother. “She can’t run as fast as we can, and she’s so good that it wouldn’t be much fun anyway. We wouldn’t get across the road before she’d want to come back and be afraid our mother would worry about us.”
“That is just why I want her to go along,” said Older Brother. “We’ll get her to go, and then our mother will think that we are not any worse than she is, and perhaps she won’t peck us so hard when we get back.”
“All right,” said Younger Brother, fluttering his wings with impatience. “Let’s get her right now. I know our mother won’t scold her.”
You see both of the brothers forgot that the reason why their mother had never scolded Little Sister was that Little Sister had never done anything wrong. She was really the best Chicken in the brood, and she had such a sweet way of running to the Barred Plymouth Rock Hen during the day and cuddling close to her for a short rest, that it was not strange her mother was especially fond of her.
Now the two naughty brothers found Little Sister and began talking to her. “Ever been across the road?” asked Older Brother, carelessly, as he snapped off a blade of grass.
“No,” said Little Sister. “Mother never goes.”
“There are some very jolly Chickens on that farm,” remarked Younger Brother. “One of them asked us to come over a little while ago.”
“Wouldn’t it be fun!” exclaimed Little Sister. “Let’s ask Mother if we can’t all go.”
“Aw, they won’t want the whole brood at once,” said Older Brother. “Besides, our mother is way over in the edge of the pasture now, and there isn’t any use in bothering her. I tell you what let’s do. Let’s just go down to our side of the road and see if those other Chickens are there now. Then we can ask them if they don’t want us to come over some other day.”