and "What fun!" squeaked the little chicks.

[Illustration:]

[Illustration:]

All three ran eagerly down the pathway until they came across Sir
Cockerel perched in a dignified attitude on the fence.

"What do you think?" asked Mrs. Hen, who, being the eldest, thought
she was entitled to speak first; but before she could open her mouth
Wee Peter Pug cried, "I've hidden the Dame's shoe!"

"What a splendid joke!" exclaimed Sir Cockerel.

"Does Mrs. Duck know?" asked Sir Cockerel.

"No, let's see if we can find her," said Wee Peter.

[Illustration:]

[Illustration:]

"What's all the excitement about?" demanded Mrs. Duck when she saw
them coming to the lakeside.

"I've hidden the Dame's shoe," said Peter.

Mrs. Duck quacked uproariously.

"I've never heard anything so funny!" she declared.

[Illustration:]

Mrs. Duck waddled ashore. "We must tell somebody else," said she.

[Illustration:]

At that moment Billy Rabbit poked his inquisitive nose through the
hedge.

"You seem very much amused," said he.

"So will you be when you know. I've hidden the Dame's shoe!" Billy's
laugh spread from ear to ear.

"That's fine fun!" he cried, and off he ran to tell the woodfolk.

[Illustration:]

[Illustration:]

So many of them had collected by now that there was quite a
procession.

"Let's go back and see my Dame look for her shoe," suggested Wee Peter
Pug.

He led the way and they all followed him. They were all speaking at
once and made such a commotion that all the wee creatures in the
garden wondered what had happened.

[Illustration:]

"Can't we find a better place to hide it?" said Wee Peter.

"Put it behind my house," suggested Mrs. Hen.

"Or in the lake," quacked Mrs. Duck.

"Or in the hedge," suggested Billy Rabbit.

Suggestions came from all of them, and the noise was so great that
my Dame hurried out into the garden to see what was the matter.

[Illustration:]

[Illustration:]

It is a sad ending to the story of Wee Peter Pug. But just as the Dame
came out into the garden Wee Peter had picked up her shoe and was
thinking of another hiding place, when she caught sight of him.

[Illustration:]

"Oh! You naughty Peter!" she cried. And she spanked him with the shoe
which had caused all the fun. Everybody laughed delightedly, except
Peter.

[Illustration:]

So you see instead of Wee Peter Pug hiding the shoe, it was the shoe
that gave poor Peter Pug a hiding! Perhaps he deserv