Free One Hundred Eggs for Henrietta by Sally Huss Page A

Sunday and we need to prepare the eggs. The eggs are being laid as we speak but they need to be colored. Could you take the berries in the berry patch, crush them and gently dye each egg?”

    Proud that they had been asked to help with the festivities, the rabbits all agreed that they were on board. They were ready and willing to dye the eggs.

    “Thank you, thank you,” Henrietta called back to them while she headed off to solve another problem on her list.
    Who would she find to hide the eggs? Who were the sneakiest animals on the farm? The cats! They knew every nook and cranny on the property. They would surely find the best hiding places.

    “Here, Kitty, Kitty. Here, Kitty, Kitty,” she called. A few seconds later three multi-colored calico cats appeared.
    Hardly ever are chickens and cats seen together. However this was a desperate situation -- she needed their help.

    The cats stood patiently as Henrietta explained, “Could you three cats hide one hundred dyed eggs in the middle of the night before the children arrive on Sunday morning?” She knew this was a lot to ask. She held her breath, hoping for the best.
    The cats proudly said, “Yes, we could even hide two hundred eggs if it were necessary.”

    “No, no,” said Henrietta, very grateful that the cats wished to lend a hand -- or paw. “Thank you, thank you,” she yelled, as she ran off again. “I’ll be in touch.”
    That was it. That was the last problem to be handled on Henrietta’s list. Now they just had to do it.

    For the next two days, Henrietta ran from the henhouse to the duck pond to the rabbits in the field all the while collecting, carrying and counting eggs.
    Eighty-six, eighty-seven, eighty-eight, they were getting closer. However the hens were getting weaker, the water birds were looking paler, and the bunnies’ paws were becoming stained and sore. On and on they labored.

    Ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine…
    On the brink of hitting one hundred eggs, everyone was exhausted. Finished. Not another egg could be had from the girls in the henhouse or the birds on the pond. Not another strawberry could be found to dye another egg.

    It was Saturday night and the cats were working feverishly. “Oh my, oh my,” Henrietta continued her fretting. “We are one egg short and one child too many.”

    Drumming her head early the next morning, Henrietta tried to find a solution to her newest problem -- where could she find one more egg?

    Just then from high atop an apple tree, a very tiny hummingbird swooped down, holding the most exquisite tiny golden egg in her feathered hand.

    Offering it to Henrietta, she said, “I’ve been watching all of you work so hard to fulfill the dream of every child of having an Easter egg on Easter Sunday. I see that you are lacking one egg. I would like to do what I can to help in my small way. Here is my egg.”

    Gratefully Henrietta took the egg, golden in color with a hint of blue and smaller in size than a pea. Gently she placed this golden egg on a blade of grass beneath the apple tree. “My, my,” thought Henrietta, “this is the most beautiful egg of all. Surely some small child will find it and love it with all of his or her heart. It is perfect.”

    She thanked the hummingbird as it rose from its hovering position and disappeared into the sky.

    With the rising sun, Farmer Johnson opened the gates to welcome his visitors – one hundred happy children with their Easter baskets in hand. Each ran in a different direction, looking for a hidden treasure – a purple egg, a pink egg, a blue egg, a rose egg.

    As each child found an egg, he or she would help another child find theirs . The finding and helping continued until all all the baskets were filled and all the eggs were discovered, all except one – the hundredth egg!

    A very little girl still had an empty basket. She wandered among the grass, searching for her egg.
    From atop the apple tree the small humming bird