『The Lovebirds』
Eleanor Farjeonの『The Lovebirds』という短編からの質問です。
Whenever a child came to buy a penny fortune, Old Dinah said, "Put your finger in the cage, Ducky!" And when the child did so, one of the two lovebirds hopped on to the finger and was brought out with a flutter of wings. Then Old Dinah held out the fortunes in a little packet of folded papers, pink, and green, and purple, and blue, and yellow, that always hung outside the cage-door. And the wonderful lovebird picked out one of the fortunes with its curved beak, and the child took it. But just how did the lovebird know just which was the right fortune for that child?--the children put their heads together over the little coloured papers, and wondered.
"What's your fortune, Marion?"
"I'm going to marry a King. It's a purple one. What's yours, Cyril?"
"A green one. I'm to go a long journey. What's Helen's?"
"I got a yellow one," said Helen, "and I'm to have seven children. What's your fortune, Hugh?"
"I'm to succeed in all my undertakings. It's blue," said Hugh. Then they ran home to their dinners.
Susan Brown sat listening with all her ears. How beautiful to have a fortune! If only she had a penny to spare! But Susan Brown never had a penny to spare, and not often any other sort of penny, either.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
"Put your finger in the cage, Ducky!"について
ここでのDuckyとはどういう意味ですか？
the children put their heads together over the little coloured papers, and wondered.について
ここはどうやって読むのでしょうか？
over the little coloured papersのoverのところがよくわかりません。
質問文の英文で説明している"a penny fortune"とは、おおまかに言うと lovebird が色紙をくちばしで選んでその子供に合った幸運を当てる、ということなのでしょうか？
（例えば、I'm going to marry a King. It's a purple one.と言っているのですが、紫色＝王様と結婚するという設定は予め決められていて、子供達には"a penny fortune"を買う前に周知なことになっているのでしょうか？）
教えていただけると助かります。
よろしくお願いいたします。
お礼
回答してくださってありがとうございます！ a penny は数えているわけではないんですね。 ご解説、勉強になりました！ありがとうございます！