told Blacky that he didn't know all there is to know
about eggs, he would have laughed at the idea. Wasn't he, Blacky,
hatched from an egg himself? And hadn't he, ever since he was big
enough, hunted eggs and stolen eggs and eaten eggs? If he didn't know
about eggs, who did? That is the way he would have talked before his
visit to Farmer Brown's henhouse. It is since then that it has been
unwise to mention eggs.

When Blacky saw the two eggs in the nest in Farmer Brown's henhouse how
Blacky did wish that he could take both. But he couldn't. One would be
all that he could manage. He must take his choice and go away while the
going was good. Which should he take?

It often happens in this life that things which seem to be unimportant,
mere trifles in themselves, prove to be just the opposite. Now, so far
as Blacky could see, it didn't make the least difference which egg he
took, excepting that one was a little bigger than the other. As a matter
of fact, it made all the difference in the world. One was brown and very
good to look at. The other, the larger of the two, was white and also
very good to look at. In fact, Blacky thought it the better of the
two to look at, for it was very smooth and shiny. So, partly on this
account, and partly because it was the largest, Blacky chose the white
egg. He seized it in his claws and started to fly with it, but somehow
he could not seem to get a good grip on it. He fluttered to the ground
just outside the door, and there he got a better grip. Just as old
Dandy-cock the Rooster, with head down and all the feathers on his neck
standing out with anger, came charging at him, Blacky rose into the air
and started over the Old Orchard toward the Green Forest.

Never had Blacky felt more like cawing at the top of his lungs. You see,
he felt that he had been very smart, and I suspect that he also felt
that he had been very brave. He would have liked to boast a little. But
he didn't. He wisely held his tongue. It would be time enough to do his
boasting after he had reached a place of safety and had eaten that egg.
He was halfway across the Old Orchard when he felt that egg beginning to
slip. Now at best it isn't easy to carry an egg without breaking it. You
know how very careful you have to be. Just imagine how Blacky felt when
that egg began to slip. Do what he would, he couldn't get a better
grip on it. It slipped a wee bit more. Blacky started down towards the
ground. But he wasn't quick