The Haughty Egg

Translated by Evi Mannermaa, Illustrated by Edgar Valter. The story begins as follows: 1. THE HEN AND THE EGG One day the hen went to her nest in the cowshed and made up her mind to lay an egg. She sat on her nest very quietly and, hardly moving aL all, focused all her attention on doing the job. It certainly took some time but at last the egg was laid. It was quite an ordinary egg—smooth and white, with the top a little narrower than the bottom and the bottom a little broader than the top. Nevertheless, the hen was very happy with her egg and she started to cackle out of the great joy that filled her. "Why are you cackling so loud?" the egg asked the hen. 'Haven’t you goL anything better to do?" The hen stopped cackling and stared at the egg in utter surprise. "I was cackling out of happiness," she explained. "I'm so happy to have laid you." The egg mumbled scornfully, "Are you trying to tell me that you have laid me?" he said. *1 don't remember any such thing happening." 'It may be that you don't," smiled the hen. "But I do re- member it very well. It was only a short while ago that you popped into my nest." "Maybe you even imagine to have laid the sun in the sky," snapped the egg. "It is almost as bright and round as I am, only a little yellower." The happy smile disappeared from the hen’s beak and she sighed, "You are a snooty egg indeed!" ’Snooty," mocked the egg haughtily. "How can I be snooty when I have no snoot at all. I am smooth all over." Now the hen became seriously worried about her egg. "You are too full of self-importance," she said, shaking her head and heaving a deeper sigh than before. However, the hen's sadness didn’t concern the egg in the slightest. "Of course I am full of self-importance," he cried in a shrill voice. "Whose importance must I be full of but my own? I am an egg from top to bottom." "Don’t you try to be such a know-all," said the hen dis- approvingly. "I've never had an egg like you before." Thereupon the egg only scoffed and rolled himself out of the nest with a mighty swing. "Where are you going? Come back to the nest at once!" cackled the hen. 'Don't order me about," cried the egg. "You go on sitting ...