THE PRETTY CHICKEN

To hear this click on The Pretty Chicken above.

My grandmother, Anna Eleanor Pederson, used to recite this to me and my sister.

Once there was a pretty chicken,
But his friends were very few,
For he thought that there was nothing
In the world but what he knew.
He was always in the barnyard--
Had a very forward way--
Telling hens and geese and turkeys
What they ought to do and say.
"I wish, my old Aunt Darking,"
He began to her one day,
"That you would sit all summer
In your nest upon the hay.
Won't you come out to the meadows
Where the grass with seeds is filled?"
"If I should," said Mrs. Darking,
"Then my eggs would all get chilled."
"No, they won't," replied the chicken,
"No matter if they do.
Eggs are really good for nothing.
What's an egg to me or you?"
"What's an egg?" said Mrs. Darking,
"Can it be you do not know?
You yourself was in an eggshell
Just one little month ago,
And if kind wings had not warmed you,
You would not been out today,
Telling hens and geese and turkeys
What they ought to do and say."


(Dr. Wolf: "Where'd you learn that one?"
Mrs. Barnes: "Well, that was in my old McGuffey third reader.")