I niver knawed
mysel' but wan animal as got downright put-goin' i' that way, an'
that were a hen."
"A hen?"
"Iss, sir. Et happen'd up to Penhellick, the las' year I stayed
'long wi' Lawyer Mennear. 'Twas a reg'lar fool-body, this hen--a
black Minorcy she were; but no egg iver laid were fuller o' meat than
she o' good-feelin'; an' prenciple! she'd enuff prenciple to stock a
prayer-meetin'. But high prenciple in a buffllehead's like a
fish-bone i' the throat--useful, but out o' place.
"Well, sir, th' ould Mennear wan day bought a baker's dozen of
porc'lain eggs over to Summercourt Fair: beautiful eggs they were,
an' you cudn' tell mun from real, 'cept by the weight. The very nex'
day, findin' as hes Minorcy were layin' for a brood i' the loft above
the cowshed, he takes up the true egg while the old fowl were away
an' sets a porc'lain egg in place of et. In cou'se, back comes the
hen, an' bein' a daft body, as I told 'ee, an' not used to these 'ere
refinements o' civilizashun, niver doubts but 'tes the same as she
laid. 'Twarn't long afore her'd a-laid sax more, and then her sets
to work to hatch mun out.
"Nat'rally, arter a while the brood was all hatched out, 'ceptin', o'
cou'se, the porc'lain egg. The mother didn't take no suspishun but
'twere all right, on'y a bit stubborn.
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