The Curly-Haired Hen

Fifteen yellow ducklings plunge into the pond—and their foster mother, a hen who hates water, flings herself after them. Yollande’s brave rescue turns perilous in an instant.

On Mother Etienne’s spacious farm, horses, cows, rabbits and a bustling poultry-yard fill the days of a woman who has poured her love into caring for animals since losing her husband and son. When Yollande, a patient Cochin-China hen, takes a brood of ducklings under her wings, she loves them as her own—even when their watery games frighten her. Then one desperate leap leaves the farm in alarm, and Mother Etienne blaming herself for what has happened. Is Yollande truly lost, and what will her devotion ask of her next?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.