Buff and Fluffy and Curly-Tail were girls, and the other three were boys.
One fine day when the wind was blowing, and the leaves were rustling, and the little wood-rabbits jumping high and kicking their heels for joy, Mother Duck told the little ducklings she was going to take them for a picnic.
“Oh, goody! goody!” they cried, and clapped their wings for joy.
How cosy it was there in the hollow tree
Mother Duck got out a little basket of meadow grass that an old muskrat had made for her, and she and the children packed it full of luncheon. There were crisp watercress, and wild celery, and little snails, and all sorts of good things such as little ducklings like to eat.
As soon as the basket was packed they started off.
The ducklings thought they would probably go down to the river, but instead of that Mother Duck led the way off into the wood, directly away from the water.
“Where are we going, mother? Where are we going?” asked the little ducklings. But the mother only smiled and shook her head and would not tell them.
After a while they came out of the wood and into a meadow-land where there was a heap of high rocks.