told her again, unhappily.

"Don't you dare let go of it!" she warned him. "If that first crow gets
away from you while it's dark, there'll be so many others to follow it
that I shan't be able to close an eye for even a cat-nap."

VIII

WHY THE ROOSTER CROWED

Henrietta Hen had commanded the Rooster to wait until daylight before he
began to crow.

He saw that she had made up her mind that he must obey her. But he knew
he couldn't. And he always took great pains to be polite to the ladies.

It was a wonder the Rooster didn't turn red in the face. He had never
found himself in such a corner before.

"You don't understand," he blurted. "I'd be delighted to oblige you, but
if I didn't crow until after the sun rose I'd never crow again."

"We could stand that," was Henrietta Hen's grim reply.

"Perhaps!" he admitted--for she made him feel strangely humble. "But
could you stand it if the night lasted forever?"

"You're talking nonsense now," she declared.

"You don't understand," he told her again. "And I must say I'm surprised,
madam, that you didn't know it was I that waked the sun up every morning.
_That's_ why I crow so early."

Henrietta Hen was so astonished that she didn't know what to say. She
thought deeply for a time--or as deeply as she could.

"Have you not noticed," the Rooster inquired, "that the sun never rises
until I've crowed loudly a good many times?"

"No! No--I haven't," Henrietta murmured. "But now that you speak of it, I
see that it's so."

"Exactly!" he said. "And often, madam, I have to crow a long time before
he peeps over Blue Mountain. It's lucky I have a good, strong voice," the
Rooster, added with a smirk, for he was feeling more at his ease. "If I
had a thin, squeaky crow such as those worthless cockerels have, Farmer
Green would have had to do many a day's work in the dark."

"Goodness!" Henrietta Hen gasped. "Do crow your loudest the moment you
wake up, Mr. Rooster! Do make all the noise you can!" And he promised
faithfully that he would.

Henrietta left him then. Somehow she couldn't get their talk out of her
mind. And soon she had an unhappy thought. What if anything should happen
to the Rooster's voice?

The moment that question popped into her head, Henrietta Hen hurried back
to the Rooster.

"Do be careful!" she besought him. "Don't get your feet wet! For if you
caught cold you might be so hoarse that you couldn't speak above a
whisper."

The Rooster tha