“You’ve frightened my poultry,” said the old lady, smiling.
“And they’ve frightened me,” said the princess, smiling too. “But what very nice poultry! Are the eggs nice?”
“Yes, very nice.”
“What a small egg-spoon you must have! Wouldn’t it be better to keep hens, and get bigger eggs?”
“How should I feed them, though?”
“I see,” said the princess. “The pigeons feed themselves. They’ve got wings.”
“Just so. If they couldn’t fly, I couldn’t eat their eggs.”
“But how do you get at the eggs? Where are their nests?”
The lady took hold of a little loop of string in the wall at the side of the door and, lifting a shutter, showed a great many pigeonholes with nests, some with young ones and some with eggs in them. The birds came in at the other side, and she took out the eggs on this side. She closed it again quickly, lest the young ones should be frightened.
“Oh, what a nice way!” cried the princess. “Will you give me an egg to eat? I’m rather hungry.”
“I will some day, but now you must go back, or nursie will be miserable about you. I dare say she’s looking for you everywhere.”
“Except here,” answered the princess. “Oh, how surprised she will be when I tell her about my great big grand-grandmother!”
“Yes, that she will!” said the old lady with a curious smile. “Mind you tell her all about it exactly.”