"Indeed, you need not bother about honking," cried the little brown hen, but nobody paid any attention to her.
So she called her chicks about her, and went her way, clucking merrily, while they picked up bugs, and dared to peep once more when they found a nice fat worm.
Meanwhile the class in honking made very little headway, for no sooner were they settled than they began to wish they knew what wonderful thing the little brown hen had to tell.
They craned their necks to watch her, and were filled with envy, seeing that she and her chicks feasted bountifully, with very little scratching, whereas they scratched in the barn-yard all day, and found only enough bugs to quarrel over.
"Indeed!" said one old rooster, "we have learned nothing about the best way of scratching for bugs, with all our gabbling."
"I should be glad," spoke up a duck, "to learn the wonderful thing that the little hen has learned, so I could keep from quarreling with my neighbors."
They all grew quite uneasy, and the gander became very angry.
"Such a stupid lot I have never seen!" he cried. "I have a great mind to let you go your ways and not bother with you!" and thereat he dismissed the class in high dudgeon.