"I _should_ like to see it." "You shall some day--not to-day." "I wonder why nursie never told me." "Nursie doesn't know. She never saw me." "But somebody knows that you are in the house?" "No; nobody." "How do you get your dinner then?" "I keep poultry--of a sort." "Where do you keep them?" "I will show you." "And who makes the chicken broth for you?" "I never kill any of my chickens." "Then I can't understand." "What did you have for breakfast this morning?" "Oh! I had bread and milk, and an egg.--I daresay you eat their eggs." "Yes, that's it. I eat their eggs." "Is that what makes your hair so white?" "No, my dear. It's old age. I am very old." "I thought so. Are you fifty?" "Yes--more than that." "Are you a hundred?" "Yes--more than that. I am too old for you to guess. Come and see my chickens." [Illustration: She clapped her hands with delight, and up rose such a flapping of wings.] Again she stopped her spinning. She rose, took the princess by the hand, led her out of the room, and opened the door opposite the stair. The princess expected to see a lot of hens and chickens, but instead of that, she saw the blue sky first, and then the roofs of the house, with a multitude of the loveliest pigeons, mostly white, but of all colors, walking about, making bows to each other, and talking a language she could not understand. She clapped her hands with delight, and up rose such a flapping of wings, that she in her turn was startled. "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 pigeon-holes 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 daresay 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." "That I will. Please will you take me back to her?" "I can't go all the way, but I will take you to the top of the stair, and then you must run down quite fast into your own room."