STORY VI
JIMMIE AS A FLYING MACHINE
One day, I think it must have been about three-and-a-half-quacks past cornmeal time, there was a great commotion in the yard, and around the pond where Jimmie Wibblewobble and his two sisters and his papa and mamma lived. There was a great fluttering in the air, and something, colored in beautiful tints, flew down and settled on the water with a little splash.
"My goodness, what is that?" asked Alice Wibblewobble, who was easily frightened. At first no one knew, for, though the creature was shaped just like a duck, it was not colored like any duck Jimmie had even seen. It was gold and bronze and green, with little patches of red and blue here and there, and was a most beautiful creature.
"Maybe that is a fairy," suggested Lulu, who sometimes read fairy stories.
"Oh, if it only might be one, and could tell me where the fairy prince is!" exclaimed Alice, with a sigh.
"Nonsense!" cried Jimmie, who was just going off to see his friend Bully, the frog. "Stuff and nonsense!"
"That's what I say, too," called out the strange creature. "Nonsense! I'm not a fairy at all. I'm a duck like yourselves, only I am a wild duck." Then its wings beat the air and water, and the wild duck arose and flew right over the pond and back again, as quickly as could be.
"My goodness! How do you do that?" asked Jimmie, who never could fly more than a few feet.