It was Mary's birthday. She received a letter from her uncle, a farmer.
"Dear Mary," the letter said. "Happy Birthday. I am sending you some chickens. They will arrive tomorrow. I hope you like them. Best wishes, Uncle Toby."
Mary was very pleased. She liked eating eggs and chicken. "I can keep the chickens for their eggs or eat them," she thought.
The next day, the chickens arrived in a box. Mary was excited. She took the box off the truck and began carrying it into her garden.
However, the box was heavy and she dropped it. It fell to the ground and broke open. All the chickens ran out.
They ran everywhere—into neighbors' gardens, into the road, into shops, even into the next street. Mary spent hours trying to find them and bring them back.
A few days later, her uncle came to visit.
"Did the chickens arrive safely?" he asked.
"Yes, Uncle Toby," Mary said. "But I had trouble. I dropped the box, it broke, and the chickens ran everywhere. I spent the whole morning looking for them."
"Did you find them all?" her uncle asked.
"I hope so," Mary replied. "I caught eleven of them."
"That's very interesting," her uncle said with a smile, "because I only sent you six."