"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."
Madhuri Noah
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