He began to find pleasure in just looking
at it. It might not satisfy his stomach, but it certainly was very
satisfying to his eyes. He forgot to think of it as a thing to eat,
but began to think of it wholly as a thing to look at and admire. He
was glad he hadn't been able to break that shell.
Once more he spread his black wings and flew down to the egg. He
cocked his head to one side and looked at it. He cocked his head to
the other side and looked at it. He walked all around it, chuckling
and saying to himself, "Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty and all mine,
mine, mine, mine! Pretty, pretty, and all mine!"
Than he craftily looked all about to make sure that no one was
watching him. Having made quite sure, he rolled the egg over and
turned it around and admired it to his heart's content. At last he
picked it up and carried it to his treasure-house and covered it
over very carefully. And there that china nest-egg, for that is what
he had stolen, is still his chief treasure to this day, and Blacky
still sometimes wonders what kind of a hen laid such a hard-shelled egg.
Blacky has had very many other adventures, but it would take another
book to tell about all of them. That would be hardly fair to some of
the other little people who also have had adventures and want them
told to you. One of these is a beautiful little fellow who lives in
the Green Forest, and so the next book will be Whitefoot the Wood Mouse.
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