You may sit there as long as you like,' said the bushy long-tailed gentleman. No, my dear madam, you will be in nobody's way. 'But as to a nest-there is no difficulty: I have a sackful of feathers in my woodshed. I would teach it to mind its own business! 'Indeed! How interesting! I wish I could meet with that fowl. Jemima complained of the superfluous hen. He folded up the newspaper and put it in his coattail pocket. 'Ah! is that so? Indeed!' said the gentleman with sandy whiskers, looking curiously at Jemima. She explained that she had not lost her way, but that she was trying to find a convenient dry nesting place. Jemima thought him mighty civil and handsome. He had a long bushy tail which he was sitting upon, as the stump was somewhat damp. 'Madam, have you lost your way?' said he. The gentleman raised his eyes above his newspaper and looked curiously at Jemima. 'Quack?' said Jemima Puddle- duck, with her head and her bonnet on the one side-'Quack?' He had black prick ears and sandy colored whiskers. She rather fancied a tree stump amongst some tall foxgloves.īut-seated upon the stump, she was startled to find an elegantly dressed gentleman reading a newspaper. Jemima alighted rather heavily and began to waddle about in search of a convenient dry nesting place. She skimmed along over the treetops until she saw an open place in the middle of the wood, where the trees and brushwood had been cleared. She flew beautifully when she had got a good start. She ran downhill a few yards flapping her shawl, and then she jumped off into the air. Jemima Puddle-duck was not much in the habit of flying. She thought that it looked a safe quiet spot. When she reached the top of the hill, she saw a wood in the distance. She was wearing a shawl and a poke bonnet. She set off on a fine spring afternoon along the cart road that leads over the hill. She determined to make a nest right away from the farm. Jemima Puddle-duck became quite desperate. She tried to hide her eggs but they were always found and carried off. 'I wish to hatch my own eggs I will hatch them all by myself,' quacked Jemima Puddle-duck. You would let them go cold you know you would!' Rebeccah Puddle-duck, was perfectly willing to leave the hatching to someone else- 'I have not the patience to sit on a nest for twenty-eight days and no more have you, Jemima. Listen to the story of Jemima Puddle-duck, who was annoyed because the farmer's wife would not let her hatch her own eggs. What a funny sight it is to see a brood of ducklings with a hen!

The tale of puddle duck