it into a strong
castle, well fortified against all danger. They stopped up the holes and
cracks with tufts of grass, and piled a wall of big and little stones
right round the house. When the repairs were completed they called it
Hencastle.

"During the autumn some of the fowls ventured forth into the cornfields
that lay near the haunts of men, and collected a store of grain to
supply them with food during the winter. They kept it on the floor of a
loft, and when spring came they sowed the remainder of the stock in a
field, where it produced such an abundant crop that they had plenty of
provisions for the following winter.

"Thus they lived a peaceful and happy life, which was so uneventful that
it has no history; and Mark, the watchman, who always stood on the
coping-stone of the highest chimney to act as sentinel, used constantly
to fall asleep, partly from sheer boredom, and partly from the combined
effects of old age, good living, and having nothing on earth to do.
Flaps, too, who had undertaken to guard the castle against intruders,
and who at first used to patrol the house carefully inside and out every
night, soon came to the conclusion that the game was not worth the
candle.

"One chilly evening, about the time of the first snows, when the wind
was beginning to whistle over the heath and make strange noises in the
castle, two old hens were up in the loft having a chat and picking up a
few stray grains of corn for supper. All of a sudden they heard a
mysterious 'Piep.' 'Hollo!' said one, 'what's that? no one can be
hatching out at this time of the year--it's impossible; yet surely
something said "Piep" down there in the corner.'

"Just then another 'Piep' was heard.

"'I don't think it sounds _quite_ like a young chicken,' replied the
other hen.

"In the middle of their discussion on this knotty point, they descried
a couple of mice at the edge of the corn-heap. One of them was sitting
on his hind-legs, washing his ears and whiskers with his fore-paws, but
his wife was gobbling up corn at a rapid rate, and in this sight the
wise and far-seeing old hens discerned the probability of future
troubles.

"'Hollo there! that's our corn,' they cried; 'you mustn't steal it. Of
course you may have a few grains in the depth of winter to keep you from
starving; but remember, when spring comes again, this sort of thing must
stop, and you must go away and never come here any more.'

"'Piep,' said the mice, and vani