But a new thought had come to Mamma Goose.  If the fox would not go near old Fido’s house, then he could not find the goslings if they hid inside.  It seemed to Mamma Goose the only thing to do, and a very sensible plan indeed.  She would ask all the chickens to come in, too, and then they would all be safe!

But when she went the next day to her best friends and told them about her plan, most of them only made fun of her, and all of them turned their backs on her.  No one would listen!

But Mamma Goose was not to be talked out of it.  If the others wished to sit still and let the fox carry them away one at a time, that was one thing, but for her to do nothing to keep her little goslings safe,—­that was quite another.

So that very evening, when the sun had gone down behind the hill, and the chickens had perched themselves on the roost with the big cock at the end, Mamma Goose led all the little goslings into Fido’s house.  Every one laughed when she went in, but Mamma Goose had made up her mind, and she kept straight on as if she had not heard them!  But the big white cock—­he did not laugh at her!

So every night Mamma Goose led her babies into Fido’s house, and every morning brought them out again safe and whole.  But always a little chick was missing!

Then one night when the sun was sinking low, the big white cock flew up to the top of the fence and crowed.  All the chickens listened then, while he told them that they were every one to go into old Fido’s house that night with Mamma Goose; for that was the only way to keep the fox from carrying them all away.

Now when the big cock said that they were to do anything, it was always done, and no words about it!  So that night all the chickens went into Fido’s house.  It was all they could do to get in, for the house was not large; and some of them were not polite and pushed against the others to make more room.  But the big cock did all he could to keep them in order, and at last all the little chicks went to sleep.

But the next morning when the farmer’s boy came to scatter the corn for breakfast, he looked at the empty roost and did not know what to think!

By and by, however, he found them and at first he only laughed, but after he had seen that no little chick was missing, he looked as if he were thinking, too.  And that evening, when the sun had gone down behind the hill, the farmer’s boy came back, and who do you think was with him?—­old Fido, wagging his tail, and looking as if he were very glad to get back!

The big white cock and all the chickens were just as glad as he was, for now they knew that the fox would never come any more.  Mamma Goose, too, was just as glad as the rest, for now she knew that she would never need to bother herself to think about the goslings again.

But she didn’t dream that anything more could happen, and she was too much surprised to think about anything at all, when old Fido came trotting straight up to her, and wagged his tail just for her alone, and told her how glad he was that she had been wise enough to use his house, and had taken such good care of the chickens while he was gone, and what a sensible little goose he thought she was!  You might almost have knocked Mamma Goose over with one of her own feathers!  She couldn’t imagine who had told him.