Once upon a time he had taken great delight in collecting the eggs of birds , in trying to see how many kinds he could get . Then as he had come to know the little forest and meadow people better , he had seen that taking the eggs of birds is very , very wrong , and he had stopped stealing them . He bad declared that never again would he steal an egg from a bird . But never before had he found a nest of Hooty the Owl . Those two big eggs would add ever so much to his collection . `` Take 'em , '' said a little voice inside . `` Hooty is a robber . You will be doing a kindness to the other birds by taking them . '' `` Do n't do it , '' said another little voice . `` Hooty may be a robber , but he has a place in the Green Forest , or Old Mother Nature never would have put him here . It is just as much stealing to take his eggs as to take the eggs of any other bird . He has just as much right to them as Jenny Wren has to hers . '' `` Take one and leave one , '' said the first voice . `` That will be just as much stealing as if you took both , '' said the second voice . `` Besides , you will be breaking your own word . You said that you never would take another egg . '' `` I did n't promise anybody but myself , '' declared Farmer Brown 's boy right out loud . At the sound of his voice , Hooty and Mrs. Hooty , sitting in the next tree , snapped their bills and hissed louder than ever . `` A promise to yourself ought to be just as good as a promise to any one else . I do n't wonder Hooty hisses at you , '' said the good little voice .
`` Think how fine those eggs will look in your collection and how proud you will be to show them to the other fellows who never have found a nest of Hooty 's , '' said the XXXXX little voice .
Brown Forest Hooty Nature Wren first hisses right second stealing