"Little Duckie's a sensible chap. What better place can there be to play in than that nice cool pond?"
And all the fishes swimming around, from the big pickerel down to the littlest "minnie," waggled their fins and tails to show they agreed too, while the froggies on the lily-pad croaked:
"Gomme on—gomme on!"
They were giving little Duckie a warm invitation to play in the water, you see.
Duckie was right at the edge now and Mother Hen, who was really his step-mother, made one last appeal, but the ducks one and all called:
"Back, back, back!"
They weren't talking to Duckie. They meant the White Wyandottes. They were taking his part, you see, though not for one minute did they guess he was their child, their very own.
Duckie appreciated that too. Perhaps Old Father Drake, the head of all the Duck family, wouldn't let Step-father Wyandotte punish him that night if he did try the water.
I don't believe Step-father Wyandotte really cared very much. At first he was a little mad but, after scolding a little, he shouted:
"Through, through, through—I'm through with yooooooouuu."