So the silk-hatted old crow sat himself down behind Puss, and the Good Gray Horse kicked out his heels, and away they went to the next village, and when they reached there they stopped before the office of the Mother Goose daily newspaper and asked the man who ran the "Lost and Found" advertisements if he knew who had lost a beautiful pearl necklace of twenty-three pearls and a little diamond clasp? "Let me think," he said, scratching the top of his head, which was as bald as a billiard ball. You see, he was a bald-headed eagle, although I forgot to mention it before. "You might inquire at a little green house about a mile down the road. A little yellow hen lives there who once had a coral necklace." So Puss said gid-ap to the Good Gray Horse and rode away, and by and by, after a while, they came to the little green house. And when the old crow knocked on the door it was opened by the little yellow hen herself. "Have you lost a necklace of pearls?" he asked, politely doffing his silk hat. "Dearie me! Let me look," she answered, hopping back into her little house. Pretty soon she came back with a little jewel case, which was as empty as a Christmas stocking on the Fourth of July. "Who could have taken it out?" she said. So the honest old crow handed over the pearl necklace, and went inside for a cup of tea, while Puss said good-by and rode away. "DONKEY, DONKEY, OLD AND GRAY" "DONKEY, donkey, old and gray, Open your mouth and gently bray; Lift your ears and blow your horn To wake the world this sleepy morn," sang little Puss, Junior. "I'm no rooster," replied the little donkey. But he gave a gentle bray, just the same, and then the Good Gray Horse neighed, and after that a little adder crawled out of a hole in the ground and said: "Gracious me! What's all this noise?" And that only goes to show what a dreadful din it must have been, for adders are deaf, so they tell me. Well, anyhow, Puss didn't wait any longer, but rode away, and by and by, after a while, he met a funny little man with a sack over his back. "What have you in your bag?" asked Puss, for he felt sorry for the little old man and meant to give him a lift in case he had a heavy load, you see. "What's that to you?" asked the little old man, with a scowl. And before you could say "Jack Robinson!" he disappeared inside a stump. Puss jumped off his Good Gray Horse and peeped in. But he couldn't see anything, only a big black hole. Well, he was just going to turn away when he heard a voice say: "Mother, I've brought you a bag of gold For the little pink-and-white pig I sold." [Illustration]