Mrs. Hen's Bad Attitude.

Greetings from the Snozarks!
Another day; another day off from school!
Oh well!

Yesterday, as I was working on The Room That Refuses To Be Tamed, I came across several books that I used to read at my Grandma Nina's house when I was little.  Books like...

and...

Mrs. Hen (by Godfrey Lynn & Elizabeth Webbe, 1949) had a few lessons to share. 

One morning very early, Henrietta Hen lay in bed and opened one eye.  She saw the sun just peeking over the hill.  Then she heard Rooster cry, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" and she knew it was morning.

Henrietta thought, "Everyone else is going to do something wonderful today.  But I shall do the same old things I do every day--cook the breakfast, wash the dishes, sweep the floor, and go to market."  And she sighed a big sigh.  "I don't even want to get up."

The story continues without any improvement in Mrs. Hen's mood until she encounters a sudden storm on her way back from market.  She raises her umbrella and is carried away by the wind...

Meanwhile Henrietta was being lifted higher and higher into the sky.  But she was getting used to it.  She even decided that it was fun to ride along in the wind.  She was just thinking about enjoying the sights when--SWOOSH!...her umbrella blew inside out.

In an instant she was dropping like an arrow toward the earth below.  She saw the trees getting nearer and nearer, and in her fright she started to flap her wings.  Then she noticed that she wasn't falling any more, and she flapped her wings all the harder.

"I'm flying!" she cried.  "I'm a bird!  Oh, this is wonderful!  I shall fly, and fly, all over town!"  And she did.

And after her adventure...

Henrietta doesn't mind getting up in the morning any more.  She bounces out of bed clucking a jolly little song.  She hustles with the cooking, and hustles with the dishes--and hustles with the sweeping.  And she can't wait to go to market--

because now...Henrietta flies to market every day!

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I can't help but wonder if I can get carried away and learn how to fly...