Part 5

"You can imagine how lovely the fairies did look, with their bright silver wings, and the beautiful birds with their bright colors perched everywhere on the wings.

"'Now,' said the fairy queen, 'remember what I've asked for.'

"At that Mr. Bullfinch came out and sang in his sweet little way. He didn't try to sing anything very big or hard, but he sang a little, simple song, in the very best way he could.

"Soon Mr. Goldfinch came out to sing his solo. At first his song was very fine and all the other birds cried, 'Bravo,' 'Wonderful,' 'Gorgeous,' at the end of the first verse. And they all sang these words in their own little bird ways.

"But at the beginning of the second verse Mr. Goldfinch tried to sing a trill that was too hard for him.

"And what do you suppose happened? Mr. Goldfinch's voice cracked, and all the birds tittered and flew off the fence, chatting with each other.

"'Well, wasn't that a disgrace--and at the fairy queen's concert, too!'

"As for Mr. Goldfinch, he hid his head in shame and felt very wretched, but the fairy queen waved her wand, and said to every one: 'This concert was given so Mr. Goldfinch would learn to be natural and not try things beyond him. We all like you as you are, without silly, vain actions--sing us a simple song now, and we'll forgive you!'

"So Mr. Goldfinch learned he mustn't try to copy the canary."

THE BATS HAVE A JOLLIFICATION

"The bats are all so glad the summer has come," said daddy. "For a long, long time they have been staying in the caves and hiding away in the tops of the corners and crevices. But last night they had their first real jollification.

"One of the bats had said it was high time to go out into the world, but another bat had said it was still too chilly. Then a bat said:

"'Well, what have we wings for?' And after that it was decided that they should be off.

"They waited until it began to grow dark--and then some of the ones who hadn't been sleeping very well got up and flew about a little while.

"Then the others who had been sound asleep woke up just as it became very, very dark. Oh, how the bats do love the night! They love it just as much as the birds love the daytime and the sun. For, though bats have wings, they are not at all like birds and they aren't in the least friendly with any of them.

"So off they started on the jollification. First they whizzed through the air practising their different ways of flying. And after they had all the strength back into their wings, they reached the garden of an old, deserted house, where they stopped for the rest of the night.

"There they told stories and chatted and chatted. For they had a great deal to say after their long sleep, and they ran races, and did tricks, and frightened people they saw coming along the road.

"They would get so near that each person would say:

"'Oh, dear me, I must cover up my head or that bat will get caught in my hair.'

"The bats thought that was a great joke, as they had no intentions of caging themselves up in someone's hair when they could be at the jollification. But they did enjoy playing pranks on the grownups.

"And soon, much too soon, daylight came.

"But what do you suppose happened? Such a wonderful ending to their jollification! Didn't those thoughtful little brownies, who had known all about the bats' jollification--and feeling rather sorry for the bats because they don't have such very good times--send some magic air-boats which picked up the sleepy bats as they flew along. Then they were carried back to their cold, hard beds in the crevices of the rocks--which they thought were so comfortable!

"And as they crept into bed, there were never so many happy bats and pleased bats as these were at having had air-boats bring them home from their jollification!"

THE REPENTANCE OF LITTLE JIM CROW

"Little Jim Crow had been very naughty," began daddy. "He had been bullying Sammy Crow for some time past simply because Sammy was not so large and not so strong as he was. Jim Crow was quite a leader, too, in a very mean way, for he'd tried to influence a lot of other little crows to think it was smart to tease Sammy.

"Well, one day Jim got hold of Sammy and ducked his head into a brook of very cold water, where the ice had only recently melted.

"Poor Sammy was so frightened he almost cried his eyes out, while Jim stood by and laughed and laughed. But Sammy was far from being strong, and the cold water made his head throb and ache, while his bones felt numb and his feathers lost their nice shiny look. He complained so much for several days of his head that his family sent for old Dr. Crow.

"Dr. Crow was a fine physician. He wore great big spectacles, and, oh, he was so kind! When he saw Sammy he became very much alarmed.

"'Why didn't you tell me of this sooner?' said he.

"'Oh, what's the matter?' asked Sammy's mother. 'Is he really very ill? We thought he had a little cold.'

"Dr. Crow took from his black medicine-bag a little thermometer and put it in Sammy's mouth and at the same time felt his pulse. Then he pulled the thermometer out. He looked very grave.

"'Mrs. Crow,' said he to Sammy's mother, 'his temperature is very high, and he must be put right to bed. Put his feet in mustard and hot water and bathe his head every three hours with witch hazel, and I'll call around again this evening to see him.'

"'Oh, you don't think he is going to die, doctor?'

"'I think he'll live, but he is pretty sick and needs great care.'

"After Dr. Crow left Sammy he went to Jim Crow's mother and daddy. He was very angry at what had been done to Sammy. When Jim's mother and daddy saw Dr. Crow coming toward their nest they were afraid Jim had been doing something awfully naughty, for he had stayed home very little the past few days, and they suspected something had happened.

"At that moment Jim flew in boisterously, and the doctor told him how ill Sammy was and of what he had done.

"For some days Sammy lay at the point of death, but with Dr. Crow's skill he finally got well.

"And Jim Crow, who had felt like a murderer, became a good crow and realized it was very, very cruel to tease any one smaller and weaker than himself."

THE RESCUE OF THE CANARY BIRD

"I am going to tell you a really true story," said daddy, "something which happened to-day. I was walking along a rather poor part of the city when I saw a number of children gathered in a group in a little side yard of a tenement house. The children were screaming to one boy: 'Oh, catch him! Don't let the awful cat get him!'"

"Oh, was it a bird?" asked Jack eagerly.

"Yes," replied daddy; "it was a bird, but not just the usual kind of bird that is seen around city streets, for only the sparrows like the noise of a city. Most birds like the woods and the country, where they can have homes in the trees and can sing all day long.

"But this was a tame yellow canary who had flown out of an open window to pick up some goodies he saw on the ground, and a cat was after him."

"Did they get him from the cat?" asked Evelyn eagerly, for she was devoted to animals and perhaps especially to birds.

"Yes," answered daddy; "the little boy succeeded in rescuing him, but the poor canary had been so frightened that his little heart was beating, oh, so fast, and the children were afraid he was not going to live.

"They all followed the little boy who had caught the canary just in time into the tenement house. The cat had knocked several feathers from the bird's tail.

"Another child told me the canary belonged to a little girl who lived in the tenement. He asked me to follow, too, for he said that the little girl had trouble with her back and had to lie flat all the time. She loved visitors, for so much of the time she was lonely. Her mother was poor and out all day sewing, so the little girl's only companion was the canary, who would sing for hours and hours. He seemed to know he must keep her cheered up.

"So along I went too. We climbed some stairs until we came to a dingy room where on a cot by the window lay a little girl about eight years old. She had big dark eyes, and when I saw her her cheeks were bright red from all the excitement.

"All her friends had gathered around, each giving her a special description of how the bird had been rescued. She was smiling with joy and watching the bird, who was now busily engaged nibbling at a little piece of apple which had been given him. Before long he began to sing, oh, so joyously, for he knew he was once more back in his happy home, where he would take good care to stay in the future.

"I told the little girl of my Jack and Evelyn, and she said she wanted to see you both. Shall we all go to see her and her little bird some day?"

"We'd love to!" cried Jack and Evelyn delightedly.

SMALL FIRE DEPARTMENT RESCUES BIRDS

"The salamanders," said daddy, "are little creatures very much like lizards in looks, except their skin is not scaly as a lizard's. They have four legs and a tail, and are very nice, kind and gentle.

"Well, these salamanders agreed that they would have a fire department, and the next thing was to arrange for the hose and ladder. Finally it was decided that their salamander cousins should be chosen to run the hose and ladder.

"'We shall call ourselves the fire and water fire department,' said one of the fire salamanders. 'It will be our business to rush in and rescue the animals who are in danger of being burned to death, and it will be your business to help them down to the brook, where we'll have our hose ready to sprinkle them with good, cool water.'

"But days and days went by, and still no fire broke out.

"'I know what's the trouble,' said another one of the fire salamanders. 'We have no fire bell; there may have been fires that we knew nothing of; you never can tell.'

"'Don't be gloomy,' said still another fire salamander. 'We'll have a fire bell. I know where a kind old cow left her bell from last year. We'll put it by the stump just at the edge of the brook and all the animals can be told to move it when there is a fire. Then we will all come out and stop the fire.'

"And soon notices were put up all over the woods and around the brook which read:

"'To the Animals: Attention! In case of fire, ring the cow bell by the brook. The Fire and Water Fire Department of the Salamanders will PUT IT OUT.'

"These notices were read by all the animals, and the very next day the salamanders heard the cow bell.

"'Where's the fire?' they all shouted.

"'Over there,' said Grandfather Frog, who was watching the fire department start off.

"They wiggled and crawled as quickly as they could to the spot where the fire was. It was the vireo family's nest. You know the vireos are those beautiful, shy birds that live in the woods and have such lovely voices. The fire salamanders rushed right into the fire and pulled out of the nest the vireo children just in time before their little feathers got burnt. And, of course, the Mother and Daddy Vireo were able to fly out.

"When they all reached the brook at last, the Mother and Daddy Vireo sang the most wonderful song as a reward to the brave salamander fire department."

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Transcriber's note:

Illustrations have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest paragraph break.

"grown-ups" and "grownups" have been retained in both versions in this project.

Opening quotation marks (") at the beginning of several chapters have been added without comment.

"Well, I mean you to come" has been changed to "'Well, I mean you to come" page 56.

"funny quack-quack talk." has been changed into "funny quack-quack talk.'" page 59.

Printer's inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation have been retained.