Queer Little Folks

"Once there was a nice young hen that we will call Mrs. Feathertop. She
was a hen of most excellent family, being a direct descendant of the Bolton
Grays, and as pretty a young fowl as you could wish to see of a summer's day.
She was, moreover, as fortunately situated in life as it was possible for a hen
to be. She was bought by young Master Fred Little John, with four or five family
connections of hers, and a lively young c**k, who was held to be as brisk a
scratcher and as capable a head of a family as any half-dozen sensible hens
could desire."

- Excerpted from "Queer Little Folks"