The hens were roosting in their coop, when one feather dropped from a little white hen. Two hens sitting below saw the feather fall and one of them said, “Did you see that? The white hen is making herself pretty by pulling out some of her feathers!” The other hen exclaimed, “She thinks she’s prettier than all of us?” Mrs Owl, roosting high up near the ceiling, heard them and said to her husband, “Those hens are complaining and fighting!” “Don’t listen to their gossip!” instructed her husband, tucking his head under his wing. But her remark had been overheard by some neighbouring hens. One of them whispered, “Do you know two of the hens are fighting?” “They must be pulling out each other’s feathers!” replied the other. A sleepy hen woke up to hear this and exclaimed loudly, “Five hens are fighting!” The white hen heard it, and thought, ‘I wonder what happened!’ And she went back to sleep.
The Feather
