There was once a big, white hen that had twelve little chickens.They were very small, and the old hen took good care of them.She found food for them in the daytime, and at night kept them under her wings.One day, this old hen took her chickens down to a small brook.She thought the air from the water would do them good.When they got to the brook, they walked on the bank a little while.It was very pretty on the other side of the brook, and the old hen thought she would take her children over there.There was a large stone in the brook: she thought it would be easy for them to jump to that stone, and from it to the other side.So she jumped to the stone, and told the children to come after her.For the first time, she found that they would not obey her.She flapped her wings, and cried, “Come here, all of you! Jump upon this stone, as I did.We can then jump to the other side. Come now!”“O mother! we can’t, we can’t, we can’t!” said all the little chickens.“Yes you can, if you try,” said the old hen.“Just flap your wings, as I did, and you can jump over.”“I am flapping my wings,” said Chippy, who stood by himself;
曾经有一只大白母鸡生了十二只小鸡。它们都很小，老母鸡把它们照顾得很好。白天为它们寻找食物，夜里就把它们护在自己的翅膀下。一天，这老母鸡把她的小鸡带到一条小河边。她觉得水边的空气会对它们的身体有好处。当他们到达小溪,他们在岸边一会儿。河对面的景色非常漂亮，老母鸡想把她的孩子们送到那边去。河边有一块大石头。她觉得对她们来说，跳上石头并不难，然后她们可以从那里过河到对岸。于是，她跳到石头上，告诉孩子们跟着她过来。她第一次发现孩子们不听她的话了。她拍打着翅膀大喊道：“你们全都过来，像我一样跳到石头上。然后我们就可以跳到河对岸了。现在就过来！”“噢，妈妈！我们做不到，我们做不到！”所有的小鸡说道。“不，如果你们试一下，就可以做到。”老母鸡说，“像我一样，只要扇动一下翅膀，就可以跳过去。”“我正在扇动翅膀，”站在一旁的小鸡芝比说，
暂无注释
