Part 2

“Very true, madam,” exclaimed Cockielockie, “your observations have a great deal of weight, only I almost wonder that you should wish to adopt any imitation of the dress of these foreigners, instead of retaining that which your grandfathers and grandmothers seem to have found the most comfortable and convenient, and, I am sure, would never have changed for the sake of making themselves more like the Turkeys. If you are tired of white, why do you not ask leave to wear brown and red coats like ours, which have always been very much admired, and are so much handsomer than black ones?”

“Why, sir,” rejoined Mrs. Goosiepoosie, “I do not see that your coats are any better than our own; and it is not very likely that Father Gander and all the heads of the family would have sent me off on such a long journey to Her Majesty just to ask her leave to change our dress, for no reason at all.”

“I thought you said, madam, just now,” replied Cockielockie, rather slyly, “that you found your old white coats dowdy and expensive. I much fear, however, that you will be obliged to wear them some little time longer yet, for as you are going exactly the wrong way, it is not probable that you will ever reach the palace of Her Majesty the Queen.”

“I beg your pardon,” replied Goosiepoosie, “but as I consulted old Father Gander before I started, and have carefully attended to his directions, which were to keep straight on, without turning to the right leg or to the left, I cannot possibly have gone wrong.”

“Well,” exclaimed Miss Peck, rather sharply, “I can only tell you, madam, that _we_ are now on our way to the residence of Her Majesty, on very important business indeed, and as we have already travelled some distance, we expect very shortly to arrive there. It is not likely that persons of our rank in life should not know where our gracious Sovereign lives, having, of course, often heard the bells ring on her birthday, and also assisted Betsy Chopper in clearing away the crumbs, after a feast that was given us in honour of it, on a large table, under the chestnut trees, not very long ago. There were a great many cakes and curious things to eat, but the naughty children came swarming round the table, and stole them, before we knew of it, though they were all intended for us; so even Cock-a-doodle got nothing better than crumbs—and good enough for him, too. He gave Miss Spangle one of the largest he found, and never offered me a bit, although I was leaning against one leg of the table, close to him, at the time, and suffering agonies of pain from a sudden attack of cramp in my poor leg. But such is the way I have always been treated. However, madam, I can assure you that you had much better attend to what we say, and not go on in this direction, or you will never get to your journey’s end.”

“I am much obliged to you, madam, for your good advice,” replied Goosiepoosie, with a formal bow, “but Father Gander is certain to be right, and I shall continue to follow the road which he pointed out.”

“Then you are an obstinate goose for your pains,” cried Cockielockie, much provoked, “and may wear your vulgar white coat all your life, for any chance there is of the Queen’s giving you leave to change it.”

Goosiepoosie made a very angry reply, and the quarrel might have continued to this time, but just then old Simon Joggle, the carrier, was coming along the road, and so loud and vehement had been the dispute that they did not hear the wheels of his cart till it was quite close to them. He was driving pretty fast, and they were standing near the middle of the road, so that there was scarcely time to get out of the way. The unfortunate Miss Peck screamed violently, and in her agitation, not thinking where she was going, she ran under one of the cart wheels, and it was no longer any joke about her poor left leg, for the wheel went over it and broke the bone.

Her cries were so terrible, and there was such noise and confusion, and flapping of wings, at the same instant, that old Simon, who could not see in the glimmering light what was the matter, stopped his horse and got out of the cart. Poor Miss Peck, whose screams soon showed him where she was, tried to get away when he came near her, but she only fell down in great pain whenever she attempted to move. If the cramp in her leg, from which she used to suffer so much, especially when she was cross, had disabled her half as much as this sad accident, Cock-a-doodle could never have been so barbarous as to refuse to help her up the henhouse stairs, if fifty Miss Spangles had been near him at the same time. It was in vain that she struggled, and screamed, and scrambled along the ground. She was soon in old Simon’s clutches, who was quickly sitting in his cart again, with the reins in his hand, as if nothing had happened.

But I fear that something very sad _had_ happened; and I am quite sure, whatever might be her fate, that poor Miss Peck was never more seen or heard of, although Cock-a-doodle thought it right to make every inquiry after her, and was very much shocked at the report which was whispered about the yard the next morning, that she had escaped from the henhouse, and gone off on a journey with young Master Wilful the conceited pig.

But what became of Cockielockie, Goosiepoosie, and Duckiedaddles? They had suffered a terrible fright, and almost lost their senses, when old Simon’s cart came so suddenly upon them; Duckiedaddles, being the last to see the danger, in her haste, somehow knocked herself against one of the horse’s legs, and was so stunned by the blow that she lay for some minutes quite insensible. When she recovered she could see nothing of her companions; old Simon’s cart was just moving away, and there was a shrieking sound from the inside, which Duckie thought—but it might have been fancy—must be like the voice of Miss Peck in a very bad spasm. When the cart was quite out of sight, Duckie hobbled along till she came to a little brook that crossed the road, and plunging gladly into it, she swam through an arch under the hedge, and along some meadows, till she came to a pond, where, to her great delight, she found several of her own relations enjoying an early swim. She told them her story, with many tears and complaints, as she had done to Cockielockie and poor Miss Peck, and begged to know whether she might remain with them, and so escape for ever from the tyranny and insolence of Mrs. Topknot and Jem the carter.

They told her that she was welcome to stay if she pleased, but it was right to mention that they were particularly subject to very severe misfortunes, in the frequent losses sustained by their families, as there was a house very near them, in which a large table was kept, and at any moment one of them might be seized, and taken in to stand upon this table, but not one had ever been brought back again. Duckiedaddles, however, thought that they only said this to frighten her, and felt quite sure that she should be much happier here than at home, so she stayed, and led an easy life with her new friends—except a dispute every now and then—for some time, when, one morning, as they were going down to the pond, she and Curlytail were not to be seen amongst them, so they knew directly that they were taken in to stand upon the great table, and would never come out and swim in the pleasant water any more.

Goosiepoosie’s story is soon told. She first flew over the hedge, and nearly frightened a red cow, who was lying in the grass on the other side, into fits; and then, recovering her own senses, set off home as fast as she could go. When she arrived there, she called all her companions around her, and told them that, after travelling a long way, and inquiring everywhere, she found that the Queen’s house was not in any part of this country, and she was afraid that they should never be able to reach it; but, that if they waited quietly, perhaps there might be some opportunity of offering up a petition to her on the subject of their complaint. So the geese consented to wait, and as no opportunity of presenting their petition ever occurred, they have continued to wear their white coats ever since.

Poor Cockielockie had a dismal time of it before he came to the end of _his_ troubles. He, too, had flown over the hedge on the other side, and in his great terror, continued, sometimes flying, and sometimes running, till he came to a copse, where he thought he should be safe; so he lay down in the thick grass, under a tree, scared and tired, and very much out of breath. Hearing nothing of his companions, and not seeing anything to alarm him, he remained there till the morning, dozing a little, and dreaming of the old cat, and Mrs. Cockielockie, and every now and then, starting up in the belief that all Farmer Cloverfield’s waggons and horses were coming down the lane at full gallop, and that he had not time to get out of the way. All that day he wandered unhappily about the copse, picking up a few insects, but meeting with no acquaintance, and not able to find any way out, he felt very lonely and wretched, and when the daylight was nearly gone, he climbed up into a hazel tree, and tried to go to sleep. But there was such a rustling and twittering amongst a family of robins, who lodged just below him, and who were talking over their plans for the winter, and the changes which they meant to make in the spring, that it was long before he could close his eyes. He had barely done so, when a sudden rush from below, and frightful sounds of pain and terror roused him from his short slumber. He flew instantly to the ground, and there, in the twilight, he distinctly saw his former companion, the old cat, standing with two murdered robins at her feet, while she greedily devoured a third.

“Why, Mrs. Puss,” said he, for her mouth was too full to allow her to speak first, “may I ask how you came here, and what you are doing?”

“How came I here!” said she, swallowing down the last wing of the robin as fast as she could. “I should think I had as much business here as you have, Mr. Cockielockie, particularly if the old woman sends me, to get her a few nice little birds for her dinner to-morrow. Of course I must taste them first myself, to see whether they are tough, and I am sure the one I have just swallowed was tough enough to choke me. I wonder how I could get it down at all. I hope, for the old woman’s sake, that the others will be more tender. And, perhaps, you will be good enough to tell me, Mr. Cockielockie, where you have been all this time, for there has been such a to-do at home about you, as never was known since Dame Featherleg drowned herself in the well: Mrs. Cockielockie in hysterics, all your family sobbing and sighing, and the old woman giving you up for lost, and hobbling off to Farmer Cloverfield’s to inquire whether Mr. Brush had been seen in the neighbourhood lately. For goodness’ sake go home as fast as you can, and make their minds easy, or Mrs. Cockielockie will be setting off in search of you, with all the family. If there should be anything that you do not wish mentioned, you may depend, Mr. Cockielockie, on my keeping it to myself, for I always say, the best of us would sometimes get into trouble, if our friends made a point of repeating every little thing that they might happen to know about us, that seemed to them contrary to one’s duty, and all that! So, if you will just take that turning to the right, Mr. Cockielockie, and then the next to the left, you will be on the way to the cottage, and I will come after you as soon as I have convinced myself that these nasty birds are too tough to be worth carrying home, which I strongly suspect to be the case. We shall have plenty of time to talk over our adventures as we walk along, for it is a good step from hence for you, though nothing for me, who am an excellent walker.”

Cockielockie thanked Mrs. Puss for her directions, and immediately set off on the way she pointed out, feeling very thankful for the prospect of returning to his family, and sleeping once more in his comfortable old place in the yew-tree. When Mrs. Puss, who very soon came up with him, as she promised, heard his story, she said, that if he took her advice, he would never set off on such an errand again, for if anything so important as the stars falling out of the sky, had really happened, she and the old woman should have been sure to hear of it, and could let the Queen know, without troubling a meddlesome person like Miss Peck, to whom Her Majesty would never have thought of listening for a moment.

So Cockielockie lived very quietly with the old woman ever after; the Queen has never been told from that day to this that the stars were falling out of the sky, and things have gone on much the same notwithstanding. Indeed, I know some people who think it a great pity that Miss Peck and her companions did not stay at home, and mind their own concerns. If they had but thought less of themselves, they would not have been so discontented with their condition, but there is an old proverb that, “to a crazy ship all winds are contrary,” and as, according to another homely saying, “Every path has a puddle,” those who spend their time in complaining, and turning this way and that, to escape from things that they do not like, and to better themselves in the world, are neither likely to be very useful to others, or to lead happy and prosperous lives themselves.

MASTERS AND CO., PRINTERS, ALDERSGATE STREET, LONDON.

● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book. ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).