Her number twelve birthday was a time of great joy for Muni; on this day, the little low-caste Indian girl was to receive Rupee, the beautiful copper red rooster, as a gift from the Mission ladies. Dr. Anna and the other American teachers guide their young servant through a wonder-filled, sometimes terrifying 12th year in this story as quiet and charming as its shy heroine. The North Indian country of forty years ago shimmers through each page, so well does Mrs. McLeod re-create it with an indefinable technique reminiscent of Rumer Godden.