lent heart, the good Mother
Etienne. You shall see that presently.

This good woman then lived on her big farm, very spacious and
admirably situated. A slate roof covered the large house; the
granaries, stables and outhouses were sheltered by old thatching
upon which grew moss and lichen.

Let me tell you now, dear children, who were the chief occupants
of the farm. First there was big "Coco"--a fine Normandy
horse--bay-coloured and very fat, whose silky coat had a purple sheen;
he had a star on his forehead and a pink mark between his eyes. He
was very gentle and answered to the voice of his mistress. If
Mother Etienne passed by his stable he never failed to scent her
and whinnied at once. That was his way of showing his friendliness
and saying,

"Good morning."

His good mistress spoiled him with all sorts of dainties.
Sometimes a crust of bread, sometimes a handful of carrots, but
what he loved best of all was sugar. If you had given him a whole
loaf he would soon have eaten it up.

Coco had for stable companions three fine Swiss cows. Their names
were La Blonde, Blanchotte, and Nera. You know what the colours
were for the names, don't you?

Petit-Jacques, the stable boy, took care of them. On fine days he
led them to pasture into a bog paddock near the farm up against a
pretty wood of silver beeches. A large pond of clear water covered
one corner of the meadow and lost itself in the reeds and iris.
There the fine big cows went to quench their thirst; quantities of
frogs went there, too, to play leap-frog. It was a veritable
earthly Paradise.

From the farm Mother Etienne caught the sound of the large bronze
bells each with its different low note, which hung round the necks
of the cows; thus she could superintend their comings and goings
without interrupting her various occupations. For the farm was
very big, as I told you, and had many animals on it.

After the stables and coachhouses came the piggery, the rabbit
hutches, and finally an immense poultry-yard divided into a
thousand compartments, and sheltering a whole horde of poultry of
all sorts; fowls of all kinds and of all breeds, geese,
guineafowl, pigeons, ducks, and what all besides. What wasn't
there in that prodigious poultry-yard?

Mother Etienne spent most of her time there, for the smaller and
more delicate the creatures the more interest and care she gave
them.

"The weak need so much protection," this excellent woman would
say, and she