"But aren't you going to take your ball?" asked Sue. "Maybe the hen will eat it if you don't."
"Hen's can't eat balls," said Bunny. "The ball is too big for them to swaller."
"Well, anyhow, they could pick holes in it, and then we couldn't play with it any more."
"That's so," agreed Bunny. "I'll see if I can get it away from her."
But when Bunny crept under the currant bush, and reached for his ball, the hen made a funny clucking noise, ruffled up her feathers and looked so angry, that Bunny was afraid.
"Maybe she's got little chickens in her nest," said Sue. "If she has she'll peck you if you go close to her—grandma said so."
"Maybe she has," agreed Bunny. "But I'll get a long stick and poke my ball out. Then she can't peck me."
But it was not easy to make the ball roll out of the way of the hen. The stick would slip off it when Bunny reached for it, and whenever the stick came near the hen she would peck at it Once she almost knocked it from Bunny's hand.
