Carlo was a fine dog. He had but one fault. He liked to suck eggs.
Day after day the cook went out into the hen-house to get eggs, and day
after day there were no eggs to be found.
At first she thought it must be a rat that stole her eggs, and she set
a trap. A clever old rat came and ate the cheese, but he never got
caught.
One day the cook saw Carlo sucking an egg. Whisk! she was after him
with a broom, and gave him a sound beating! But this did not cure Carlo
of his bad habit. He went into the hen-house and stole eggs whenever he
pleased.
The cook said she was not going to allow this, so one day she called
the dog to her in a most friendly way, and held out half an egg in her
hand.
Carlo thought that the cook had made up her mind to let him eat all the
eggs he wanted, so he took the egg in his mouth, and swallowed it
quickly.
Then he began to behave very strangely. He yelped with pain, and ran
out into the yard and rolled over and over in the snow.
"Good! Now you will steal no more eggs," said the cook.
What do you suppose was the matter with Carlo? The egg the cook had
given him was full of red pepper, and his mouth burned as though on
fire. There is no telling what the poor dog would have done if a little
girl had not come along just then.
The little girl had found out what the cook had done.
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