3. As to their bad manners, their love of dirt and snails and wet, she could only think that it came from their having once laid as eggs in that old straw cradle of theirs, among the green rushes.
4. "Or else it is because their feet are the wrong shape," said Betty, as she looked down at the yellow boots of her foster-sons and daughters. On the whole they did not behave so very badly, she thought.
5. They came up with the chickens at meal times, even if they did go straight back to that vile gutter the moment they had gobbled all they could get.
6. "What a clever hen is Betty Dorking!" the others said. "She has brought up the duck's brood and will make chickens of them!" It is true that the wise old gander laughed at this notion.
7. He said, "You never see a silk purse made out of any other thing but silk," and all his wives nodded their heads and cackled. They said it was witty, though they had no idea what the speech meant.
8. As the golden ears were taken by heaps into the rick-yard, the birds felt as glad as the farmer and his wife did. The great sheaves were stacked and the fowls gleaned after them.
9. Betty, as well as the rest, picked up plenty of loose grains. There was a little squabbling once, and the turkey-cock trod on one of Betty's ducklings.
10. The great bird said nothing but "gobble gobble!" and did not even show that he was sorry. The peacock was not too proud to come walking in among the rest, in a dainty way, holding up his train.
11. He liked wheat as much as any of them. But he could not bear soiling his dress. Betty now thought it was time to take her foster-children into the world, before winter came.
12. They were grown to a fair size, and as yet no cold water had ever come near them, except a few splashes, which their nurse could not prevent.