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+Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Jolly Robin, by Arthur Scott Bailey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Tale of Jolly Robin
+
+Author: Arthur Scott Bailey
+
+Illustrator: Harry L. Smith
+
+Release Date: March 9, 2009 [EBook #28293]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN
+
+
+
+
+TUCK-ME-IN TALES
+(Trademark Registered)
+
+BY
+ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
+
+AUTHOR OF
+SLEEPY-TIME TALES
+
+(Trademark Registered)
+
+The Tale of Jolly Robin
+The Tale of Old Mr. Crow
+The Tale of Solomon Owl
+The Tale of Jasper Jay
+The Tale of Rusty Wren
+The Tale of Daddy Longlegs
+The Tale of Kiddie Katydid
+The Tale of Buster Bumblebee
+The Tale of Freddy Firefly
+The Tale of Betsy Butterfly
+The Tale of Bobby Bobolink
+The Tale or Chirpy Cricket
+The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug
+The Tale of Reddy Woodpecker
+The Tale of Grandmother Goose
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Jolly Robin Asks Jasper Jay About The Sign
+Frontispiece--(Page 44)]
+
+
+
+
+TUCK-ME-IN TALES
+
+THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN
+
+BY
+ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
+
+Author of
+"SLEEPY-TIME TALES"
+(Registered Trademark)
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+HARRY L. SMITH
+
+NEW YORK
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+PUBLISHERS
+
+Made in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1917, by
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+ CHAPTER                          PAGE
+       I Nestlings                   1
+      II Learning to Fly             6
+     III The Wide, Wide World       11
+      IV What Jolly Did Best        16
+       V Laughing for Mr. Crow      21
+      VI Tickling a Nose            26
+     VII A New Way to Travel        33
+    VIII Jolly is Left Behind       38
+      IX Jolly's Mistake            43
+       X The White Giant            48
+      XI What a Snowball Did        53
+     XII Jolly Feels Better         57
+    XIII The Hermit                 64
+     XIV One or Two Blunders        69
+      XV Lost--A Cousin!            74
+     XVI Jealous Jasper Jay         80
+    XVII Only a Rooster             86
+   XVIII On Top of the Barn         91
+     XIX Curious Mr. Crow           96
+      XX The Four-Armed Man        101
+     XXI A Doleful Ditty           107
+    XXII Shocking Manners          112
+   XXIII A Cold Greeting           117
+
+
+
+
+THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+NESTLINGS
+
+
+Of course, there was a time, once, when Jolly Robin was just a
+nestling himself. With two brothers and one sister--all of them, like
+him, much spotted with black--he lived in a house in one of Farmer
+Green's apple trees.
+
+The house was made of grass and leaves, plastered on the inside with
+mud, and lined with softer, finer grass, which his mother had chosen
+with the greatest care.
+
+But Jolly never paid much attention to his first home. What
+interested him more than anything else was food. From dawn till dark,
+he was always _cheeping_ for something to eat. And since the other
+children were just as hungry as he was, those four growing babies kept
+their parents busy finding food for them. It was then that Jolly Robin
+learned to like angleworms. And though he ate greedily of insects and
+bugs, as well as wild berries, he liked angleworms best.
+
+Jolly and his sister and his brothers could always tell when their
+father or their mother brought home some dainty, because the moment
+the parent lighted upon the limb where the nest was built they could
+feel their home sink slightly, from the added weight upon the branch.
+
+Then the youngsters would set up a loud squalling, with a great
+craning of necks and stretching of orange-colored mouths.
+
+Sometimes, when the dainty was specially big, Mr. or Mrs. Robin would
+say, "_Cuck! cuck!_" That meant "Open wide!" But they seldom found it
+necessary to give that order.
+
+Somehow, Jolly Robin managed to eat more than the rest of the
+nestlings. And so he grew faster than the others. He soon learned a
+few tricks, too. For instance, if Mrs. Robin happened to be sitting on
+the nest, to keep her family warm, when Mr. Robin returned with a
+lunch for the children, Jolly had a trick that he played on his
+mother, in case she didn't move off the nest fast enough to suit him.
+
+He would whisper to the rest of the children. And then they would
+jostle their fond parent, lifting her up above them, and sometimes
+almost upsetting her, so that she had hard work to keep from falling
+off the nest.
+
+Mrs. Robin did not like that trick very well. But she knew that Jolly
+would not annoy her with it long. Indeed, he was only eleven days old
+when he left his birthplace and went out into the wide world.
+
+You see, the young folk grew so fast that they soon more than filled
+the house. So there was nothing their parents could do but persuade
+them to leave home and learn to fly.
+
+One day, therefore, Mr. Robin did not bring his children's food to the
+edge of the nest and drop it into their mouths. Instead, he stood on
+the limb a little distance away from them and showed them a plump
+angleworm.
+
+The sight of that dainty was more than Jolly Robin could resist. He
+scrambled boldly out of the nest; and tottering up to his father on
+his wobbling legs, he snatched the tempting morsel out of his proud
+parent's bill.
+
+Jolly never went back to the nest after that. The next day Mrs. Robin
+coaxed the other children from home in the same fashion. And though it
+may seem a heartless act, it was really the best thing that could have
+happened to Jolly and his sister and his brothers.
+
+You see, they had to learn to fly. And so long as they stayed in the
+nest they could never learn a difficult feat like flying.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+LEARNING TO FLY
+
+
+After Jolly Robin had gulped down the fat angleworm with which his
+father had coaxed him to leave the nest, he clung desperately to the
+limb. With no food in sight he had plenty of time to look about him
+and to be alarmed.
+
+The day was not gone before he had a great fright. He tumbled out of
+the apple tree and fell squawking and fluttering upon the ground.
+
+Luckily, his mother happened to be at home. She went to Jolly at once
+and told him not to be afraid.
+
+"Nothing will hurt you," she said, "if you'll only keep still. But if
+you squall like that, the cat will find you."
+
+It may seem strange, but his mother's words frightened Jolly all the
+more. They scared him so thoroughly that he stopped making a noise,
+anyhow. And that was how he learned never to talk when he was on the
+ground near a house where a cat might live.
+
+"Now," said Jolly's mother, as soon as he was still, "I'll teach you a
+new game. Just watch me!" And spreading her wings, she flapped them,
+and sprang into the air.
+
+Soon Jolly was trying to imitate her. And it was not long before he
+found himself gliding a short distance, skimming along just off the
+ground.
+
+But in spite of all his efforts, he couldn't help falling again.
+Though his mother tried to show him how to fly into a tree-top, Jolly
+Robin seemed unable to learn the trick.
+
+At last Mr. Robin said to his wife:
+
+"I'll teach him the rest. You've made a good beginning. But he must
+learn more at once. There's no telling when the cat may come into the
+orchard to hunt for field-mice. And you know what would happen then."
+
+His wife shuddered. But Mr. Robin told her not to worry.
+
+"I'll soon have this youngster so he can fly as well as anybody," he
+declared.
+
+So he went and hopped about on the ground with Jolly for a little
+while, showing him how to find worms beneath the grass carpet of the
+orchard.
+
+And then, in a loud voice, Mr. Robin suddenly cried:
+
+"The cat! The cat!" And he flew into an old tree near-by.
+
+Jolly Robin had never seen Farmer Green's cat. But he had heard that
+she was a dreadful, fierce creature. And when his father shouted her
+name Jolly was so startled that he forgot he didn't quite know how to
+fly. Before he knew what he was doing, he followed his father right up
+into the old apple tree and perched himself on a low branch.
+
+That was the way he learned to fly, for he never had the least trouble
+about it afterward. And as soon as he realized that he had actually
+flown from the ground to the bough he was so pleased that he began to
+laugh merrily.
+
+As for the cat, she was not in the orchard at all. Indeed, Jolly's
+father had not said that she was. You see, he had played a joke on his
+son.
+
+Now, up to that time Jolly Robin had not been named. You must
+remember that he was not two weeks old. And having three other
+children of the same age, his parents had not been able to think of
+names for all of them.
+
+But this big youngster laughed so heartily that his father named him
+"Jolly," on the spot. And "Jolly" he remained ever afterward.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD
+
+
+After he learned to fly, Jolly Robin's father took him into the woods
+to spend each night in a roost where there were many other young
+robins, whose fathers had likewise brought them there.
+
+Jolly learned a great deal from being with so many new friends. It was
+not long before he could find plenty of food for himself, without help
+from anyone.
+
+He discovered, too, that there was safety in numbers. For example, if
+Jasper Jay made too great a nuisance of himself by bullying a young
+robin, a mob of robins could easily put Jasper to flight.
+
+"_Always help other people!_" That was a motto that all the youngsters
+had to learn. And another was this: "_Follow your father's lead!_"
+
+Later in the season, in October, when the robin cousins and uncles and
+aunts and sisters and brothers and all the rest of the relations made
+their long journey to their winter homes in the South, Jolly found
+that there was a good reason for such rules. If he hadn't followed his
+father then he might have lost his way, because--since it was the
+first time he had ever been out of Pleasant Valley--he knew nothing
+whatever about travelling.
+
+He looked forward with much interest to the journey, for as the days
+grew shorter he heard a great deal of talk about the trip among his
+elders. And while he was waiting for the day when they should leave he
+became acquainted with many new and delicious morsels to eat. He
+roamed about picking wild grapes, mulberries and elderberries. And he
+did not scorn a large, green katydid when he chanced to find one.
+
+There was always some new dainty to be sampled; though as the weather
+grew colder Jolly began to understand that in winter Pleasant Valley
+would not be so fine a place to live.
+
+However, he managed to find food enough so that he continued to grow
+rapidly. The night after he found a mountain ash on a hillside, full
+of bright red berries, his father said that he seemed much taller than
+he had been that morning.
+
+"You must have eaten a great many of those berries," said Mr. Robin.
+
+"Well, I notice one thing," Jolly observed. "My waistcoat is fast
+losing its black spots. And it's redder than it was. The red berries
+certainly colored it in some way."
+
+Mr. Robin replied that he had never heard of such a thing happening.
+He looked curiously at his son's waistcoat.
+
+"It _does_ seem to look different," he said. "It's brighter than it
+was."
+
+Really, that was only because Jolly was fast growing up. But neither
+he nor his father stopped to think of that. And since Jolly had
+learned that motto, "_Follow your father's lead_," he thought his
+waistcoat ought to be just as red as old Mr. Robin's was.
+
+So Jolly visited the mountain ash each day and fairly stuffed himself
+with the bright red fruit.
+
+It did him no harm, anyhow. And he enjoyed eating it.
+
+And the next spring, when Jolly Robin returned to Pleasant Valley,
+after spending the winter in the South, there was not a redder
+waistcoat than his in all the neighborhood.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+WHAT JOLLY DID BEST
+
+
+Jolly Robin had something on his mind. For several days he had been
+turning a certain matter over in his head. But in spite of all his
+thinking, he seemed unable to find any answer to the question that was
+troubling him. So at last he decided he would have to ask somebody to
+help him.
+
+And that was why Jolly stopped Jimmy Rabbit near the garden one day.
+
+"I want your advice," he told Jimmy Rabbit.
+
+"Certainly!" that young gentleman replied. And he sat himself down
+upon his wheelbarrow and looked very earnest. "If it's anything about
+gardening," he said, "I should advise you to raise cabbages, by all
+means."
+
+But Jolly Robin said he wasn't thinking of planting a garden.
+
+"In fact," he explained, "the trouble is, I don't know what to do. I'd
+like to have some regular work, you know. And since you've had a good
+deal of experience, having run a tooth-pulling parlor, a barber-shop,
+and a shoe-store, I thought you might be able to tell me what would be
+a good business for me to take up."
+
+For a few minutes Jimmy Rabbit did not speak. But he nodded his head
+wisely.
+
+"Let me see!" he said at last. "What's the thing you do best?"
+
+Jolly Robin replied at once that he thought he could fly better than
+he could do anything else. And he felt so happy, because he was sure
+Jimmy Rabbit was going to help him, that he began to laugh gaily. And
+he couldn't help singing a snatch of a new song he had heard that
+morning. And then he laughed again.
+
+"You're mistaken," Jimmy Rabbit said to him. "You fly well enough, I
+dare say. But there are others who can beat you at flying.... No!" he
+declared. "What you can do better than anybody I know is to _laugh_.
+And if I were you I should make laughing my regular business."
+
+That idea struck Jolly Robin as being so funny that he laughed harder
+than ever. And Jimmy Rabbit nodded his head again, as if to say, "I'm
+right and I know it!"
+
+At last Jolly Robin stopped laughing long enough to ask Jimmy to
+explain how anyone could make a business of laughing. "I don't see how
+it could be done," said Jolly Robin.
+
+"Why--it's simple enough!" Jimmy told him. "All you need do is to find
+somebody who will hire you to laugh for him. There are people, you
+know, who find it very difficult to laugh. I should think they'd be
+glad to pay somebody to do their laughing for them."
+
+"Name someone!" Jolly Robin urged him.
+
+And Jimmy Rabbit did.
+
+"There's old Mr. Crow!" he said. "You know how solemn he is. It's
+positively painful to hear him try to laugh at a joke. I'm sure he
+would be delighted with this idea. And if I were you I'd see him
+before somebody else does."
+
+Jolly Robin looked puzzled.
+
+"Who would ever think of such a thing but you?" he asked.
+
+"Nobody!" Jimmy Rabbit replied. "But I like the scheme so well that I
+almost wish I hadn't mentioned it. And unless you make your bargain
+with old Mr. Crow at once I may decide to go into the laughing
+business myself.... My advice to you," he said, "is to hurry!"
+
+So Jolly Robin thanked him. And then he flew away to find old Mr.
+Crow.
+
+Of course, he went to the cornfield first.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+LAUGHING FOR MR. CROW
+
+
+Sure enough! old Mr. Crow was in the cornfield. And though he was
+feeling somewhat peevish that morning, because a coon had disturbed
+his rest the night before, he listened to what Jolly Robin had to
+say.
+
+"I've come to ask you a question," Jolly told him. "I've decided to go
+into business--the laughing business. And I want to inquire if you
+wouldn't like to engage me to do your laughing for you."
+
+Well, that struck old Mr. Crow as being very funny. He forgot all
+about his loss of sleep. And his eye twinkled quite merrily. He tried
+to laugh, too; but it was a pitiful attempt--no more than a hoarse
+cackle, which was, as Jimmy Rabbit had said, positively painful. Old
+Mr. Crow seemed to realize that he was making a very queer sound. He
+hastily turned his laugh into a cough and pretended that he had a
+kernel of corn stuck in his throat.
+
+"What are your prices?" he asked Jolly Robin. "Are you going to charge
+by the day or by the laugh?"
+
+"Just as you prefer!" Jolly answered.
+
+"Well, I'll have to think about it," old Mr. Crow told him. "It's a
+question that I wouldn't care to decide in a hurry. If I paid you by
+the day you might not laugh at all. And if I paid you by the laugh you
+might laugh all the time.... It would be pretty expensive, either way.
+And I don't believe I'd like that."
+
+"I'll tell you what I'll do," said Jolly Robin then. "I'll stay with
+you one day for nothing. And we'll see how the arrangement suits us."
+
+That suggestion pleased Mr. Crow.
+
+"Agreed!" he said quickly. "And now," he added, "you may laugh for me,
+because I am quite delighted."
+
+So Jolly Robin laughed happily. And old Mr. Crow remarked that it was
+a _fair_ laugh, though not so loud as he would have liked.
+
+"I'll do better next time," Jolly assured him.
+
+"Good!" said Mr. Crow. "And now, since I've finished my breakfast,
+we'll go over to the woods and see what's going on there this
+morning."
+
+The first person they saw in the woods was Peter Mink. He was fishing
+for trout in Broad Brook. And old Mr. Crow, as soon as he spied him,
+sang out:
+
+"How many of Farmer Green's fish have you eaten this morning?"
+
+Peter Mink was just crawling out of the water, with a fish in his
+mouth. When he heard Mr. Crow calling to him, he dropped his trout
+upon a rock and looked up quickly.
+
+"How much of Farmer Green's corn have you stolen for your breakfast?"
+he cried.
+
+At that Jolly Robin began to laugh. But Mr. Crow stopped him quickly.
+
+"Don't laugh!" the old gentleman squawked. "There's nothing to laugh
+at, so far as I can see."
+
+So Jolly managed to smother his laughter, for he noticed that Mr. Crow
+was angry.
+
+"You'll have to be careful," Mr. Crow warned him. "You mustn't laugh
+at the wrong time, you know."
+
+"I'll do my best," Jolly Robin promised. And he could see already that
+old Mr. Crow was going to be hard to please.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+TICKLING A NOSE
+
+
+Old Mr. Crow did not want to stay near the brook to talk with Peter
+Mink. Calling to Jolly Robin to follow him, he flapped his way to the
+edge of the woods and sat in a tree overlooking the pasture.
+
+"Here comes Tommy Fox!" Mr. Crow exclaimed. "We ought to have some fun
+with him. So when it's time for you to laugh for me, don't forget to
+laugh loudly."
+
+"I'll remember," Jolly promised him. And just by way of practice he
+chirruped so merrily that Tommy Fox pricked up his ears and came
+bounding up to the tree where Jolly and Mr. Crow were sitting.
+
+"Good morning!" Mr. Crow cried to Tommy. "Is that a hen's feather
+that's stuck behind your ear?" he asked very solemnly.
+
+"No!" said Tommy Fox. "It's a crow's; and I certainly had a fine
+breakfast."
+
+Now, Jolly Robin wasn't quite sure whether he ought to laugh or not.
+And then Tommy winked at him. So Jolly thought there must be a joke
+somewhere and he began to chirrup as loudly as he could.
+
+"For pity's sake, keep still!" old Mr. Crow snapped.
+
+"But you wanted me to laugh louder," Jolly reminded him.
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Crow--"when there's anything to laugh at."
+
+"But didn't Tommy Fox make a joke?" Jolly Robin asked.
+
+"A very poor one!" old Mr. Crow replied. "A very poor joke, indeed!...
+I see," he added, "I see you've not had much experience laughing for
+people. And here's where you make a mistake. You laugh at _other
+people's_ jokes, which is all wrong. After this you must laugh at _my_
+jokes--do you understand?"
+
+Jolly Robin said he understood. And Mr. Crow remarked that he was glad
+there would be no more trouble.
+
+"And now," the old fellow said, "now we'll go over to the swamp, where
+Uncle Sammy Coon lives. We ought to have some fun with him."
+
+So over to the swamp they flew, where they found Uncle Sammy Coon
+sunning himself in the top of a tall hemlock.
+
+"How-dy-do!" said Mr. Crow.
+
+But Uncle Sammy Coon did not answer.
+
+"We're in luck!" Mr. Crow said with a chuckle. "I declare, I believe
+the old beggar's asleep. Just watch me play a practical joke on him!"
+
+So Mr. Crow lighted on a branch near Uncle Sammy Coon and began
+tickling his nose.
+
+Pretty soon Uncle Sammy Coon sneezed. And when that happened, Mr. Crow
+jumped back quickly. But Uncle Sammy didn't awake--at least, he didn't
+open his eyes. So Mr. Crow tickled his nose again.
+
+Now, old Mr. Crow was so amused that he glanced at Jolly Robin, to see
+if he was watching. And in that instant when Mr. Crow looked away,
+Uncle Sammy Coon leaped at him. He caught Mr. Crow by the tail, too.
+
+The old gentleman set up a great din. He squawked, "Help! help!" at
+the top of his voice and flapped his broad wings.
+
+The struggle was over in a moment. By a great effort Mr. Crow broke
+away, leaving one of his tail-feathers with Uncle Sammy Coon, and flew
+into another tree near-by.
+
+Then Jolly Robin laughed as if he would never stop. He thought that it
+must be the proper time to laugh, because Mr. Crow had said he was
+going to play a joke on Uncle Sammy.
+
+Mr. Crow, however, seemed to think differently about the matter.
+
+"Do keep quiet!" he cried. "There's nothing to laugh at, so far as I
+can see."
+
+"But you said you were going to play a joke on Uncle Sammy Coon,
+didn't you?" Jolly inquired.
+
+"Yes!" Mr. Crow replied. "But it's no joke to lose a tail-feather. And
+I wouldn't think of laughing at what just happened.... Besides," he
+continued, "your laughter is altogether wrong. What you must try to
+do is to laugh _very sadly_. In fact," he added, "I wouldn't mind if
+you shed a few tears, because I feel quite upset over this unfortunate
+accident."
+
+Well, Jolly Robin saw at once that it was impossible for him to please
+Mr. Crow.
+
+"My laughter," he said, "is always merry. I couldn't laugh sadly, no
+matter how hard I might try. And as for shedding tears, I couldn't
+weep for you even if you lost all your tail-feathers, Mr. Crow."
+
+"Then you may leave at once!" Mr. Crow cried, just as if Farmer
+Green's pasture belonged to him.
+
+"Yes!" Jolly Robin answered. "I may--and then again, I may not!"
+
+And since he stayed right there and laughed, old Mr. Crow himself flew
+away. It was a long while, too, before he could bear to hear people
+laugh. For he thought they must be laughing at him, because he had
+lost a tail-feather.
+
+And perhaps that was what amused Jolly Robin, though I never thought
+of that before.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+A NEW WAY TO TRAVEL
+
+
+The time had come when Jolly Robin was ready to begin his long journey
+to the South, for it was growing quite cold. On some days there was no
+sun at all. And even when the weather was fair the sun rose late and
+went to bed early. It was exactly the sort of weather Jolly Robin did
+not like.
+
+"No doubt you'll be leaving us soon," Jasper Jay remarked to Jolly one
+day, when the two chanced to meet in Farmer Green's woods, where the
+beeches grew.
+
+"I expect to start to-morrow," Jolly Robin answered with a short
+laugh. The mere thought of his warm, light-flooded winter home in the
+Southland made him feel glad.
+
+"Well, well!" Jasper Jay exclaimed. "I'm glad I happened to see you,
+for I know of a new way to travel."
+
+And Jolly Robin wanted to know all about it.
+
+"If it's a better way than the old, I'll be pleased to try it," he
+said.
+
+"Oh! it's much better," Jasper told him. "If I hadn't made up my mind
+to spend the winter in Pleasant Valley, I'd go the new way myself. But
+the beechnut crop is good this fall. So I shall stay right here to
+enjoy it."
+
+"Tell me how we're to go, if you please!" Jolly Robin urged him.
+
+"We?" said Jasper. "You don't mean to say you are going with a
+_crowd_, do you?"
+
+"Why, yes!" Jolly Robin replied. "All the Robins are leaving
+to-morrow. And I had intended to go with them."
+
+Jasper Jay shook his head.
+
+"Take my advice and don't do any such thing," he said. "You'll find it
+quieter travelling alone. And though you may not know it, it's the
+fashionable thing to do."
+
+Jolly Robin laughed when Jasper said that.
+
+"But I'm not a fashionable person!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Then you should become one," Jasper told him. "Besides, the new way
+is _easier_, as well as more stylish. But if you're _afraid_ to try
+something new, of course I wouldn't think of urging you."
+
+"I'm not afraid!" Jolly Robin cried. "And if you'll only tell me what
+I'm to do, I promise you I'll do it!"
+
+"Good!" said Jasper Jay. "Meet me here day after to-morrow and I'll
+start you on your journey. I can't explain anything now, because I
+must hurry over to the woods at once, where my cousin, Mr. Crow, is
+waiting for me." Then he flew away, screaming a loud good-by as he
+went.
+
+So Jolly Robin hastened back to the orchard, to find his wife and tell
+her what he had decided to do.
+
+He had no difficulty at all in finding her. But he had no end of
+trouble trying to persuade her to travel with him the new way, instead
+of going along with the crowd in the good, old-fashioned style. In
+fact, she raised so many objections, saying how lonely it would be and
+how dangerous it was to travel in a small party and that she didn't
+want to be fashionable--she raised so many objections that at last
+Jolly Robin said very well! she might do as she pleased. But as for
+him, _he_ was going to meet Jasper Jay just as he had promised. And
+since the new way was easier, he expected to reach their winter home
+long before she arrived, even if he did start a day later.
+
+But he was disappointed, all the same. And he kept up such a constant
+laughing and joking all the rest of that day that his wife knew he
+must be feeling quite out of sorts.
+
+For that was a way Jolly Robin had. The worse he felt, the happier he
+always acted. And it was not a bad way, either.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+JOLLY IS LEFT BEHIND
+
+
+All of Jolly Robin's friends and relations were greatly surprised when
+they saw him bidding his wife and children good-by, on the day the
+Robin family started from Pleasant Valley for their winter home in the
+South.
+
+"What's this?" they cried. "Aren't you coming with us?"
+
+And Jolly Robin laughed and said to them gaily:
+
+"Not to-day! But you'll find me waiting for you when you reach your
+journey's end."
+
+His wife, however, shook her head.
+
+"It's one of his queer notions--his and Jasper Jay's," she explained.
+
+"Tut, tut!" her husband said. And he chucked her under the chin--and
+winked at his friends.
+
+There was no time to say anything more, for everyone was eager to
+start. So the travellers called good-by to Jolly, while he waved a
+farewell to them.
+
+It was not many minutes before he was the only member of the Robin
+family left in Pleasant Valley. He felt very lonely, all at once. And
+he wanted to hurry after the others. But he knew what Jasper Jay would
+say, if he did. Jasper would be sure to tell people that Jolly Robin
+was _afraid_ to travel a new way.... Of course, Jolly didn't want that
+to be said about him. So he looked as cheerful as he could; and he
+whistled the merriest tune he knew. Nobody--except his wife,
+maybe--would have guessed that he wasn't perfectly happy.
+
+Jolly spent a very lonely night. When he went to the roost where the
+whole Robin family had been sleeping for several weeks, he found it
+distressingly silent, after the gay chatter that he had grown
+accustomed to hearing there. And try as he would, he could not keep
+just a hint of sadness out of his good-night song.
+
+But in the morning he felt better. And he welcomed the dawn with a
+carol that was joyous enough for anybody. For this was the day when
+Jasper Jay was going to show him the new way to travel. Yes! he, too,
+would soon be hurrying southwards, where the sun was warm.
+
+It was no wonder that he sang, "_Cheerily-cheerup, cheerily-cheerup_,"
+right merrily.
+
+As soon as he had eaten his breakfast, Jolly went to the place where
+the beeches grew, to find Jasper Jay. And Jasper was there, just
+finishing his own breakfast. But he was too busy, he said, to bother
+with Jolly Robin just then.
+
+"You meet me in the orchard this afternoon," he said, "when the sun's
+over the mountain, and I'll start you on your journey."
+
+So Jolly Robin had to wait all the long day, while Jasper Jay did a
+hundred silly things, such as mocking Farmer Green's cat, and teasing
+a sleepy young owl, and making the woods echo with his hoarse screams.
+Jasper was late, too, in keeping his appointment in the orchard. Jolly
+Robin waited for him until almost sunset before Jasper Jay appeared.
+But Jolly was so glad to see Jasper that he never once thought of
+being angry with him.
+
+"Come along!" said the blue-coated rascal. "Follow me and you'll soon
+learn the new way to the South. And if it isn't a good one I hope I'll
+never eat another beechnut."
+
+Jolly Robin laughed. He was sure, then, that he had nothing to worry
+about. For everybody knew that Jasper Jay was specially fond of
+beechnuts.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+JOLLY'S MISTAKE
+
+
+With Jolly Robin following close behind him, Jasper Jay flew directly
+to the crossroads, almost half-way to the village. Once there, he
+perched himself upon the sign-post at the four corners. And Jolly
+Robin seated himself upon one of the boards that were nailed to the
+post.
+
+"Here we are!" said Jasper Jay. "You see how easy it is."
+
+"When will the post begin to move?" Jolly Robin inquired, a bit
+anxiously. He had waited a whole day to begin his long journey to the
+South, so it was only natural that he should want to start at once.
+
+"What's that you say?" asked Jasper Jay. And when Jolly repeated his
+question, Jasper began to scream with laughter. "Well, that's a good
+one!" he said at last. "So you thought the post was going to pull
+itself out of the ground and fly away with you, did you?"
+
+"Why, yes!" Jolly Robin replied. "Aren't these _wings_?" he asked,
+looking down at the boards. "They're already spread," he observed.
+
+It was some minutes before Jasper Jay could answer him, for he was
+laughing again. But finally he managed to speak.
+
+"Those aren't wings!" he cried. "They're sign-boards, to tell you
+which road to take. Of course, you can't expect to read a sign when
+you're sitting on it. Just go over to the fence across the road and
+you can see the sign that you're on now."
+
+So Jolly Robin fluttered over to the fence. And from there he could
+see the sign-board plainly. This is what it looked like:
+
+                        TO SKY POND, 15 MILES
+
+"There!" Jasper Jay cried, when Jolly had read the sign aloud. "You
+see how easy it is. All you need do is to follow this road to which
+the hand points."
+
+"Then I shall have to fly, after all," Jolly Robin said. He had
+expected to have a ride. And naturally he was disappointed. Then he
+read the sign once more. "Sky Pond!" he exclaimed. "I don't want to go
+to Sky Pond. I want to go to the South!"
+
+"Well, Sky Pond's south of Pleasant Valley," Jasper Jay explained.
+"It's right on your way to your winter home. And all you have to do
+when you reach Sky Pond will be to find another sign, which ought to
+say something like this: 'To the South, one thousand miles.' You see
+how simple it is," Jasper Jay remarked. "With a sign-board to guide
+you, you can't go wrong."
+
+But it seemed to Jolly that the new way of travelling was far more
+difficult than the old. He said as much to Jasper Jay, too. "I
+wish----" he added--"I wish I had started yesterday, with the
+others."
+
+At that Jasper Jay said, "Nonsense!" And he muttered something about
+dunces, and mollycoddles, and--yes! _'fraid-cats!_
+
+Perhaps Jasper hadn't intended that Jolly Robin should hear those
+words--and perhaps he had. Anyhow, he was sorry afterward that he had
+spoken so loud. For the first thing he knew, Jolly Robin flew straight
+at him with shrill chirps of rage. And Jasper was so surprised--and
+frightened, too--that he flew off as fast as he could go, following
+the road that led to Sky Pond, fifteen miles away, with Jolly Robin
+after him.
+
+Jolly chased him for a long time, until at last Jasper Jay swerved to
+one side and turned toward home.
+
+But Jolly Robin followed him no longer. He kept straight on, and on,
+and on. And he flew so fast and so far before he stopped that he
+overtook the party that had started a whole day ahead of him.
+
+So he travelled to his winter home in the old-fashioned way, after
+all. And though Jolly Robin laughed when he told his friends about
+Jasper Jay's new style of travelling, there was one thing over which
+he could not smile, even then.
+
+You see, "'fraid-cat" was a name he couldn't abide.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE WHITE GIANT
+
+
+It was a raw March day when Jolly Robin returned to Pleasant Valley
+one spring. There had just been a heavy fall of snow--big, wet flakes
+which Farmer Green called "sugar-snow," though it was no sweeter than
+any other. Johnnie Green liked that kind of snow because it made the
+best snowballs. And he had had a fine time playing in the orchard near
+the farmhouse, not long before Jolly Robin appeared there.
+
+Now, the orchard was the place where Jolly Robin and his wife had had
+their nest the summer before. So it was natural that he should want
+to go there at once and look about a bit.
+
+He perched himself on a bare limb, where he sang "_Cheerily-cheerup_"
+a few times, in spite of the snow and the cold, whistling wind. He
+knew that the weather would grow warmer soon; and he was glad to be in
+Pleasant Valley once more, though he had to confess to himself that he
+liked the orchard better when the grass was green and the trees were
+gay with apple-blossoms.
+
+"It's really a beautiful place for a home," he told himself. "I don't
+wonder that Farmer Green likes to live near the orchard. And now I'll
+just go over to the house and see if I can't get a peep at him and his
+wife and his boy, Johnnie--and the hired-man, too."
+
+So Jolly Robin jumped off the bough and started through the frosty air
+toward the farmhouse. But all at once he saw a sight that sent him
+darting into a tree. He hid there for a while and something made him
+shiver--something besides the cold wind.
+
+Yes! Jolly Robin was the least bit frightened. For he had caught a
+glimpse of a strange man. It was neither Farmer Green nor his
+hired-man, for this was a giant. He had big, black eyes and a great
+lump of a nose, which stuck out queerly from his pale moon-face. He
+was dressed all in white, except for a battered, old, black hat, which
+he wore tipped over one eye. In one hand he held a stick. And it
+seemed to Jolly Robin that the queer man was just about to hurl it at
+something.
+
+In spite of his uneasiness, Jolly peeped around his tree and watched
+the stranger. But he did not throw the stick. He stood quite still and
+seemed to be waiting. And Jolly Robin waited, too, and stared at
+him.
+
+"Maybe there's a squirrel hiding behind a tree," he said to himself.
+"Perhaps this man in white is going to throw the stick as soon as the
+squirrel shows himself."
+
+But no squirrel appeared. And Jolly Robin was just about to start for
+the farmhouse again when he saw somebody pop out of the woodshed door
+and come running toward the orchard.
+
+"Here's Johnnie Green!" Jolly exclaimed. He knew Johnnie at once,
+because neither Farmer Green nor the hired-man ever went hopping and
+skipping about like that.
+
+Pretty soon Jolly saw Johnnie Green stop and make an armful of
+snowballs. And then he went straight toward the stranger in white.
+Though Johnnie began to shout, the man in white did not even turn his
+head. And then Johnnie Green shied a snowball at him.
+
+The snowball sailed through the air and struck the stranger's battered
+hat, knocking it off into the snow. And, of course, Jolly Robin
+couldn't help laughing. He was more surprised than ever, too, because
+the moon-faced man did not move even then. Anyone else would have
+wheeled about and chased Johnnie Green. But this odd gentleman didn't
+seem to know that his hat had been knocked off.
+
+"That's queer!" said Jolly Robin to himself. "He must be asleep. But I
+should think he would wake up."
+
+While Jolly was wondering, Johnnie Green threw another snowball. And
+when it struck the stranger a very peculiar thing happened.
+
+And Jolly Robin did not laugh. He was too frightened to do anything
+but gasp.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+WHAT A SNOWBALL DID
+
+
+Jolly Robin was too frightened to laugh when he saw Johnnie Green's
+second snowball strike the moon-faced stranger in the orchard. You
+see, the snowball hit one of the stranger's arms. And to Jolly's
+amazement, the arm at once dropped off and dashed upon the ground,
+breaking into a dozen pieces.
+
+That alone was enough to startle Jolly Robin. But the moon-faced man
+paid not the slightest attention to the accident. There was something
+ghostly in the way he stood there, all in white, never moving, never
+once saying a word.
+
+But Johnnie Green did not seem frightened at all. He set up a great
+shouting and began to let fly his snowballs as fast as he could throw
+them.
+
+They did not all find the mark. But the very last one struck the
+silent stranger squarely upon his left ear. And to Jolly Robin's
+horror, his head toppled off and fell horridly at his feet.
+
+Jolly Robin fully expected the man in white to turn and chase Johnnie
+Green then--or at least to hurl his stick at Johnnie. But nothing of
+the sort happened. And Jolly did not wait for anything more. He felt
+that he had seen quite enough. So he flew away to the shelter of the
+woods, to find somebody to whom he could talk and tell of the strange
+thing that had happened in the orchard.
+
+Over in the woods Jolly was lucky enough to meet Jimmy Rabbit, who
+was always very friendly toward him. And as soon as he had inquired
+about Jimmy Rabbit's health (they had not seen each other since the
+previous fall, you know), Jolly related how he had seen Johnnie Green
+knock off the head of the man in the orchard.
+
+"And the man never paid the slightest heed to what happened," said
+Jolly Robin. "He had a stick in his hand; but he didn't throw it."
+
+"There's nothing queer about that," Jimmy Rabbit remarked. "How could
+he see where to throw his stick, when he had no head?"
+
+But Jolly Robin could not answer that question. And he looked more
+puzzled than ever.
+
+"I don't understand it," he said with a shake of his own head. "The
+whole affair was very odd. I'm afraid I shall not care to live in the
+orchard this summer, especially if there's a headless man there! For
+how can he ever see to leave the orchard?"
+
+It was Jimmy Rabbit's turn to look puzzled, for that was a question
+that he couldn't answer.
+
+"Maybe there is something queer about this case," he said. "I'll go
+over to the orchard to-morrow and take a look at that headless
+stranger and see what I think about him. If you'll meet me here we can
+go together."
+
+Now, Jolly Robin had almost decided that he would never go near the
+orchard again. But he felt that if he went with Jimmy Rabbit there
+ought not to be much danger. So he agreed to Jimmy's suggestion.
+
+"I'll be here before the morning's gone," he promised.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+JOLLY FEELS BETTER
+
+
+Jolly Robin awoke at dawn. And he knew at once that the day was going
+to be a fine one. Though the sun had not yet peeped above the rim of
+the eastern hills, Jolly Robin was sure that there would be plenty of
+sunshine a little later. He had many ways of his own for telling the
+weather; and he never made a mistake about it.
+
+Now, it had grown quite warm by the time Jolly Robin went to the woods
+late in the morning to meet Jimmy Rabbit. And the snow had melted away
+as if by magic.
+
+"Summer's coming! Summer's coming!" Jolly called joyfully as soon as
+Jimmy Rabbit came hopping into sight. "The apple-blossoms will burst
+out before we know it."
+
+"Yes--and the cabbages, too," Jimmy Rabbit replied. "I'm glad the
+white giant in the orchard lost his head," he added, "because there's
+no telling what he would have done to the cabbages later, if he had
+wandered into the garden. He might have eaten every one of them. And I
+shouldn't have liked that very well."
+
+Then they started off together toward the orchard to look at the
+headless stranger who had given Jolly Robin such a fright the day
+before. Jimmy Rabbit went bounding along with great leaps, while Jolly
+Robin flew above him and tried not to go too fast for his long-eared
+friend.
+
+Once in the orchard, Jolly led Jimmy to the spot where he had seen
+Johnnie Green knock off the giant's head with the snowball.
+
+"Here he is!" Jolly Robin whispered--for he was still somewhat afraid
+of the giant, in spite of his having lost his head. "He doesn't seem
+as big as he was yesterday. And he has dropped the stick that he
+carried."
+
+Jimmy Rabbit stopped short in his tracks and stared at the still
+figure under the apple tree. For a few moments he did not speak.
+
+"That looks to me like _snow_," he said at last. And he crept up to
+what was left of the giant and sniffed at him. "It _is_ snow!" he
+declared.
+
+When he heard that, Jolly Robin flew to a low branch just above the
+giant.
+
+"I don't understand it," he said. "There's his head on the ground,
+with the big, black eyes. _They_ certainly aren't made of snow."
+
+"No!" Jimmy Rabbit agreed, as he sniffed at the terrible eyes.
+"They're _butternuts_--that's what they are!"
+
+Well, Jolly Robin was so surprised that he all but tumbled off his
+perch.
+
+"There's his hat--" he continued, as he clung to the limb--"that's a
+real hat. It's not made of snow--or butternuts, either."
+
+"Yes!" Jimmy Rabbit said. "It's a sure-enough hat. Farmer Green wore
+it on Sundays for a good many years. I've often seen him starting for
+the meeting-house over the hill with this very hat on his head."
+
+"Then the giant stole it from him!" Jolly Robin cried in great
+excitement.
+
+But Jimmy Rabbit thought differently.
+
+"It's my opinion--" he said--"it's my opinion that Johnnie Green took
+this old hat and put it on the giant's head, after he had made him."
+
+"Made him!" Jolly Robin repeated. "You don't mean to say that Johnnie
+Green could make a giant, do you?"
+
+"Well, he knows how to make a snow-man--so I've been told," Jimmy
+Rabbit replied. "And though I've never seen one before, it's plain
+that that's what this creature is."
+
+Jolly Robin had listened with growing wonder. Spending his winters in
+the South, as he did, he had never even heard of a snow-man.
+
+"Are they dangerous--these snow-men?" he inquired anxiously.
+
+"This one certainly isn't," Jimmy Rabbit told him. "With his head off,
+he can't do any harm. And with the sun shining so warm I should say
+that by to-morrow he'll be gone for good. It looks to me as if he
+might be the last snow-man of the winter, for I don't believe there'll
+be any more snow until next fall."
+
+"Good!" Jolly Robin cried. "I shall come back to the orchard to live,
+after all, just as I had intended." And he felt so happy that he began
+to sing.
+
+"I'm glad I brought you here to see the snow giant," he told Jimmy
+Rabbit, when he had finished his song. "But when my wife and I start
+to build our summer-house a little later in the spring, I hope you'll
+say nothing to her about this affair. It might upset her, you know, if
+she knew that a giant lost his head in the orchard--even if he was
+made of snow."
+
+"I understand!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "And I won't mention the matter to
+her. You're afraid she might lose _her_ head, I suppose, if she heard
+about it."
+
+Having made a joke, Jimmy Rabbit thought it was a good time for him to
+be leaving. So he said good-by and hopped briskly away.
+
+And Jolly Robin's wife never knew that her husband and Jimmy Rabbit
+had a secret that they did not tell her.
+
+Of course, if they had told her it would have been no secret at all.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE HERMIT
+
+
+Though Jolly Robin was quite bold for his size, he had a cousin who
+was actually shy. This timid relation of Jolly's belonged to the
+Hermit Thrush family; and Jolly Robin always spoke of him as "The
+Hermit," which was a good name for him, because he never strayed from
+the depths of the swamp near Black Creek. At least, he stayed there
+all summer long, until the time came for him to go South.
+
+If Jolly Robin wanted to see this shy cousin, he had to go into the
+swamp. For the Hermit never repaid any of Jolly's calls. He was afraid
+of Farmer Green and the other people that lived in the farmhouse.
+Apple orchards, and gardens and open fields he considered good places
+to avoid, because he thought them dangerous.
+
+"There's no place to live that's quite as safe and pleasant as a
+swamp," he often remarked. "I have one brother who prefers an
+evergreen thicket, which doesn't make a bad home. And another brother
+of mine lives in some bushes near a road. But how he can like such a
+dwelling-place as that is more than I can understand."
+
+Now, there were two things for which this cousin of Jolly Robin's was
+noted. He was an exquisite singer; and he always wore a fine, spotted
+waistcoat.
+
+Jolly always admired the Hermit's singing. But he didn't like his
+spotted waistcoat at all.
+
+"That cousin of mine is too much of a dandy," Jolly remarked to his
+wife one day. "I'm going to pay him a visit this afternoon. And I
+shall speak to him about that waistcoat he's so fond of wearing. It's
+well enough for city birds to dress in such finery. But it's a foppish
+thing for anybody to wear way up here in the country."
+
+Jolly's wife told him plainly that he had better mind his own
+business.
+
+"It's no affair of yours," she said. "And you ought not to mention the
+matter to your cousin."
+
+Jolly Robin did not answer her. He thought there was no use arguing
+with his wife. And since the Hermit was his own cousin, he saw no
+reason why he shouldn't tell his relation exactly what he thought.
+
+The Hermit appeared glad to see Jolly Robin when he came to the swamp
+that afternoon. At least, the Hermit said he was much pleased. He had
+very polished manners for a person that lived in a swamp. Beside him,
+Jolly Robin seemed somewhat awkward and clownish. But then, Jolly
+always claimed that he was just a plain, rough-and-ready countryman.
+
+"I never put on any airs," he often said. "Farmer Green and I are a
+good deal alike in that respect."
+
+After the Hermit had inquired about Jolly's health, and that of his
+wife as well, he smoothed down his spotted vest, flicked a bit of moss
+off his tail, and said that if Jolly cared to hear him he would sing
+one of his best songs.
+
+"I'd like to hear you sing!" Jolly told him.
+
+So the Hermit sang a very sweet and tender melody, which was quite
+different from Jolly's cheery carols.
+
+It was a great pleasure to hear such a beautiful song. And Jolly
+Robin was so delighted that he began to laugh heartily the moment his
+cousin had finished the final note.
+
+"I wouldn't laugh, if I were you," the Hermit reproved him mildly.
+"That's a sad song.... If you care to weep, I'd be more than
+gratified," he said. And he shuddered slightly, because Jolly's
+boisterous laughter grated upon his sensitive nerves.
+
+You can see, just from that, that the Hermit was a very different
+person from his merry cousin, Jolly Robin.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+ONE OR TWO BLUNDERS
+
+
+Jolly Robin's cousin, the Hermit, seemed much disappointed because
+Jolly did not weep after hearing the beautiful, sad song. But no
+matter how mournful a song might be, Jolly Robin could no more have
+shed tears over it than a fish could have. Naturally, a fish never
+weeps, because it would be a silly thing to do. Surrounded by water as
+he is, a fish could never see his own tears. And so all the weeping he
+might do would be merely wasted.
+
+Not wanting to hurt his cousin's feelings, Jolly Robin said that he
+would try to weep after he went home. And that made the Hermit feel
+happier once more.
+
+"Perhaps you'd like to see our eggs?" he suggested.
+
+And since Jolly Robin said he would be delighted to look at them, if
+the Hermit's wife had no objection, his cousin led him further into
+the swamp. And there, in a nest of moss and leaves, lined with pine
+needles, the Hermit proudly pointed to three greenish blue eggs,
+somewhat smaller than those in Jolly's own nest in Farmer Green's
+orchard.
+
+Jolly Robin stared at the nest in amazement. And pretty soon the
+Hermit grew quite uncomfortable.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked. "You seem surprised."
+
+"I certainly am!" Jolly Robin cried. "How do you dare do it?"
+
+"Do what?" his cousin inquired uneasily.
+
+"Why, you and your wife have built your nest on the ground!"
+
+"Well, why shouldn't we?" the Hermit asked. And he looked the least
+bit angry.
+
+"But everybody knows that the best place for a nest is in a tree,"
+Jolly Robin told him.
+
+His cousin shook his head at that.
+
+"It's a matter of taste," he said. "Our family have always preferred
+to build their nests on the ground. And as for me, I shall continue to
+follow their example.... It suits me very well," he added.
+
+Jolly Robin couldn't help laughing, the sight struck him as being such
+an odd one.
+
+"It's a wonder--" he remarked--"it's a wonder your wife doesn't bury
+her eggs in the sand beside the creek, like old Mrs. Turtle."
+
+"I'd thank you," said the Hermit, stiffly, "not to say such things
+about my wife." And though he spoke politely enough, his manner was
+quite cold. It was clear that he felt terribly insulted.
+
+Jolly Robin saw that he had blundered. And wishing to change the
+subject, he said hastily:
+
+"Won't you sing another song?"
+
+So the Hermit cleared his throat and began to sing again.
+
+Although this song was not so sad as the first one, Jolly Robin did
+not like it half so well. The chorus, especially, he considered quite
+offensive. And it is not surprising, perhaps, that it displeased him,
+for this is the way it went:
+
+                "Any old vest
+                May do for the rest;
+                But _I_ like a spotted one best!"
+
+If it hadn't been for that song, Jolly Robin would not have remembered
+that he had intended to speak to his cousin about his spotted
+waistcoat. Jolly had been so interested in the nest on the ground that
+the matter of the waistcoat had slipped out of his mind. But now he
+suddenly recalled the reason why he had come to see the Hermit. And he
+disliked his cousin's spotted finery more than ever.
+
+Thereupon, he resolved that he would speak about it, too.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+LOST--A COUSIN!
+
+
+When the Hermit Thrush had finished his song about the spotted vest,
+he looked at his cousin Jolly Robin out of the corner of his eye.
+
+"How do you like that one?" he inquired. He noticed that Jolly was not
+laughing.
+
+"That seems to me to be a very silly song," Jolly Robin said. "But I'm
+glad you sang it, because it has reminded me that I was going to speak
+to you about that spotted waistcoat you're so fond of wearing."
+
+"What's the matter with my waistcoat?" the Hermit asked quickly. "I'm
+sure it's a very handsome one."
+
+"I don't like it!" Jolly told him. "I wouldn't be caught with it on me
+for anything. Everybody says that you're a great dandy because you
+wear it. And since you're my cousin, I think I ought to tell you what
+people are saying about you."
+
+"I don't care what people say!" the Hermit exclaimed. "Those that
+don't like my beautiful waistcoat can look the other way when I'm
+around. And if my style of dress doesn't please you, I'd suggest that
+you keep out of this swamp."
+
+"Now, don't get angry!" Jolly Robin begged. He gave his cousin a
+smile, hoping that it might make him feel pleasanter. "I was only
+trying to help you. I was only going to advise you to wear a red
+waistcoat, like mine."
+
+Now, the mere thought of wearing a red waistcoat made the Hermit feel
+faint. Some people say that all great singers are like that. If they
+don't like a thing, they can't bear even to think about it. And it was
+a fact that the words "red waistcoat" had always made Jolly Robin's
+cousin shudder.
+
+Maybe one reason why he never went to visit Jolly was because he
+couldn't endure the sight of his bright red vest.
+
+Of course, Jolly Robin knew nothing about all this.
+
+"Red would be very becoming to you," he continued. "And it's certainly
+a cheerful color, too. You need brightening up. I don't believe it's
+good for you, living in this damp swamp and singing sad songs. What
+you ought to do is to get some clothes like mine and bring your wife
+over to Farmer Green's orchard and build a nest in an apple tree....
+We could have some gay times together," he said smilingly.
+
+Like many other people Jolly Robin thought his own ways were the best.
+And since the Hermit was just as sure that nobody else knew how to
+dress, or how to sing, or how to build a house as well as he did, it
+is quite plain that the two cousins never could agree.
+
+"Just tell your wife about my plan when she comes home," said Jolly
+Robin. "And I'll fly over to-morrow and show you the way to the
+orchard."
+
+"I'll tell her," his cousin promised.
+
+"Good!" said Jolly Robin. And he gave his delicate cousin a hearty
+slap on the back, which made the poor fellow wince--for it hurt him
+not a little. "Good-by!" Jolly cried. And chirping loudly, he flew
+back home.
+
+Now, Jolly noticed, as he left, that his cousin called "Farewell!" in
+a melancholy tone. But he thought no more about it at the time. He
+told his wife the good news as soon as he reached the orchard; for
+Jolly was sure that his cousin the Hermit was going to follow his
+advice.
+
+But the next day Jolly met with a great surprise. When he went to the
+swamp near Black Creek he couldn't find his cousin anywhere--nor his
+cousin's wife, either. Even their three eggs had disappeared from the
+nest on the ground.
+
+"I hope Fatty Coon hasn't eaten the eggs," said Jolly Robin, as he
+gazed into the empty nest. "But it's no more than anybody could expect
+who's so foolish as to build a nest on the ground." He grew quite
+uneasy. And he was puzzled, too.
+
+Later, when Jolly Robin met old Mr. Crow, he learned that his cousin,
+the Hermit Thrush, and his wife had moved away from the swamp the
+evening before.
+
+"They've left for parts unknown," old Mr. Crow explained. "I saw them
+when they started. And when I asked your cousin where they were going,
+he said that they didn't know, but they were hoping to find some
+peaceful neighborhood where they had no relations."
+
+"That's strange!" Jolly Robin exclaimed. "We are very fond of each
+other--my cousin and I. By the way," he added, "did you happen to
+notice what sort of waistcoat he was wearing?"
+
+Mr. Crow said he had noticed; and that it was a light-colored one with
+dark spots.
+
+"Dear me!" said Jolly Robin. "I was hoping he had put on a red one.
+But since he moved in such a hurry, perhaps he hadn't time to
+change."
+
+Whether that was the case, Jolly Robin never learned. For he never saw
+his cousin the Hermit again.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+JEALOUS JASPER JAY
+
+
+The feathered folk in Pleasant Valley were all aflutter. They had
+heard a strange tale--the oddest tale, almost, that had ever been told
+in their neighborhood.
+
+It was Jolly Robin who had started the story. And since he was not in
+the habit of playing jokes on people, everybody believed what he
+said--at least, everybody except Jasper Jay. He declared from the
+first that Jolly Robin's tale was a hoax.
+
+"I claim that there's not a word of truth in it!" Jasper Jay said.
+
+Now, there was a reason why Jasper spoke in that disagreeable way. He
+didn't want the story to be true. And, somehow, he felt that if he
+said it was a hoax, it would really prove to be one.
+
+"I know well enough," said Jasper, "that there's no golden bird in
+Pleasant Valley--and nowhere else, either!"
+
+You see, Jolly Robin had hurried to the woods one day and told
+everyone he met that a wonderful golden bird had come to Pleasant
+Valley.
+
+"He's not just yellow, like a goldfinch. He's solid gold all over,
+from the tip of his bill to the tip of his tail. Even his feet are
+golden. And he glistens in the sunshine as if he were afire!" That was
+the way Jolly Robin described the marvellous newcomer. "He's the
+handsomest bird that ever was seen," he added.
+
+Perhaps Jasper Jay was jealous. You know he was a great dandy, being
+very proud of his blue suit, which was really quite beautiful.
+Anyhow, Jasper Jay began to sulk as soon as he heard the news.
+
+"Where is this magnificent person?" he asked Jolly Robin with a sneer.
+"Do let me see him! And if he wants to fight, I'll soon spoil his
+finery for him. He won't look so elegant after I've pulled out his
+tail-feathers."
+
+But Jolly Robin wouldn't tell anybody where he had seen the wonderful
+bird. He said the golden bird was three times as big as Jasper Jay.
+And he didn't want Jasper to get hurt, even if he was so
+disagreeable.
+
+Anyone can see, just from that, that Jolly Robin was very kind.
+
+"You'd better be careful, or I'll fight you, too!" Jasper warned him.
+
+But Jolly was not afraid. He knew that Jasper was something of a
+braggart and a bully. He had chased Jasper once. And he thought he
+could do it again, if he had to.
+
+"My cousin will tell me where to find this yellow fellow," said Jasper
+Jay at last. "There's not much that happens in Pleasant Valley that my
+cousin doesn't know about." So he flew off to find old Mr. Crow--for
+he was the cousin of whom Jasper was speaking.
+
+Jasper found Mr. Crow in his favorite tree in the pine woods. And sure
+enough! the old gentleman seemed to know all about the golden bird.
+But like Jolly Robin, he refused to say where he had seen him. To tell
+the truth, Mr. Crow had never set eyes on the strange bird. But he did
+not like to admit it. "He's a great credit to the neighborhood," said
+old Mr. Crow. "And you'd better let him alone, if you should happen to
+find him, because he's solid gold, you know. And if you flew at him
+and tried to peck him, just as likely as not you'd break your bill on
+him, he's so hard."
+
+Old Mr. Crow's warning, however, had no effect at all upon Jasper
+Jay.
+
+"I'm going to search every corner in the valley until I find this fop.
+And I'll teach him that he'd better get out of our neighborhood with
+his fine airs."
+
+When he heard that, old Mr. Crow shook his head.
+
+"You're going to have trouble!" he told Jasper. And then he hurried
+away to tell Jolly Robin that he ought to advise the golden bird to
+leave Pleasant Valley.
+
+But Jolly Robin said he had not spoken with the stranger. And never
+having talked with a golden bird, he felt a bit shy about saying
+anything to him.
+
+"Then there'll be a terrible fight, I'm afraid," said Mr. Crow.
+
+"I'm afraid so," Jolly Robin agreed. And strange as it may seem, they
+both said that if there was going to be a fight they didn't want to
+miss seeing it.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+ONLY A ROOSTER
+
+
+Jasper Jay spent several days looking for the great golden bird that
+Jolly Robin had described. But Jasper couldn't find the wonderful
+creature anywhere. And he was wondering if it wasn't just a hoax after
+all, as he had claimed. He had almost decided to give up his search,
+when he chanced to meet Bennie Barn-Swallow one day. Jasper happened
+to mention that he was on the lookout for Jolly Robin's strange bird;
+and Bennie Barn-Swallow said quickly:
+
+"Do you mean the bird of gold?"
+
+"The bird of _brass_, I should say!" Jasper replied, with his nose in
+the air. "You haven't seen him, have you?"
+
+"Why, yes!" said Bennie. "He stays right near my house."
+
+Of course, Jasper Jay knew that Bennie lived in a mud house, under the
+eaves of Farmer Green's barn. So he cried at once: "Then my search is
+ended! I'll come over to the barn this afternoon and fight the
+upstart."
+
+The news spread quickly--the news of the fight that was going to take
+place at Farmer Green's barn. And as soon as he heard it, Jolly Robin
+went straight to the barn and asked the golden bird if he wouldn't
+leave Pleasant Valley at once.
+
+But the great, gorgeous creature paid no attention to Jolly Robin's
+request. Indeed, he seemed not to hear his words at all--though Jolly
+Robin thought the stranger was just pretending.
+
+Jolly had to sing a good many songs that day to keep up his spirits.
+Somehow, he felt that it was all his fault that there was going to be
+a fight.
+
+"I wish I hadn't told anyone about the golden bird," he said. "Maybe
+he would have flown away before Jasper Jay heard of his being here."
+
+Well, Jasper invited everybody to come to the barn late in the
+afternoon to see him whip the golden bird and pull out his
+tail-feathers.
+
+"There's going to be some fun," said Jasper Jay. "Nobody ought to miss
+it."
+
+So, as the afternoon waned, the feathered folk began to gather in the
+orchard. Jolly Robin was there, and his wife, and old Mr. Crow, Rusty
+Wren, Bobbie Bobolink, Miss Kitty Catbird, and a good many others as
+well. There was a good deal of noise, for everyone was chattering.
+And Jasper Jay made almost as great a din as all his friends
+together. He boasted in a loud voice that he was going to give the
+golden bird a terrible beating. And he was so pleased with himself
+that some of his companions whispered to one another that it might be
+a good thing if the golden bird gave Jasper a sound whipping.
+
+At last Jasper Jay called out that he was ready. And then he started
+for Farmer Green's barn, while the eager crew followed close behind
+him. They all alighted on the ridge of the barn. And like Jasper Jay,
+they sat there for a short time and stared at the golden bird, who
+shimmered like fire in the slanting rays of the setting sun.
+
+Jolly Robin and Bennie Barn-Swallow had seen him before; so they
+weren't surprised. But all the others gazed at him in amazement.
+
+Now, to Jasper Jay the golden bird looked enormous. He was perched
+high up on a rod which rose above the roof. And he seemed very proud
+and disdainful. In fact, he paid no attention at all to the curious
+flock that watched him.
+
+For a little while nobody said a word. And Jasper Jay was the first to
+speak.
+
+"Fiddlesticks!" he cried. "This is nothing but a barnyard fowl. He's a
+rooster--that's what he is!"
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+ON TOP OF THE BARN
+
+
+All the feathered folk on the roof of Farmer Green's barn saw at once
+that Jasper Jay had told the truth. The golden bird was a rooster,
+just as Jasper had said. But it seemed strange to them that a rooster
+should sit on so high a perch.
+
+"It looks to me," said old Mr. Crow, "it looks to me as if he had
+flown up here and lighted on that rod and then was afraid to fly down
+again."
+
+"I'll knock him off!" cried Jasper Jay. And he made ready to swoop at
+the stranger.
+
+"I wouldn't do that!" said Jolly Robin.
+
+"No!" Jasper Jay replied. "I know you wouldn't. You'd be _afraid_ to
+do such a thing."
+
+"It's not that," Jolly Robin told him, "though he _is_ ten times my
+size. This is what I mean: He's a peaceable fellow. And though I will
+admit that he seems a little too proud, he hasn't harmed anybody. So
+why should anybody harm him?"
+
+"He's a barnyard fowl and he belongs on the ground," Jasper Jay
+declared. "If we let him stay up here in the air there's no knowing
+what Farmer Green's fowls will do. All his hens and roosters--and he
+has a hundred of 'em--may take to flying about where they don't
+belong. This golden gentleman is setting them a bad example. And it is
+my duty to teach him a lesson."
+
+Now, the real reason why Jasper wanted to knock the golden rooster
+off his high perch was because he was so handsome. Jasper's fine blue
+suit looked quite dull beside the golden dress of the stranger. And
+that was more than Jasper could stand.
+
+"Here I go!" Jasper cried. And he left his friends and flew straight
+at the golden fowl.
+
+Jasper struck the rooster such a hard blow that he spun around on his
+perch twice. But he didn't lose his balance. And he never said a
+single word.
+
+"I'll pull out his tail-feathers this time!" Jasper squawked, as he
+darted at the stranger again. But Jasper had no luck at all. Though he
+pecked viciously at the tail of the golden rooster, he succeeded only
+in hurting his own bill.
+
+Several times Jasper tried. But not one tail-feather came away. And
+some of the onlookers began to smile. Old Mr. Crow even guffawed
+aloud. But Jasper Jay pretended not to hear him.
+
+"Don't you think we'd better go away?" Jolly Robin asked Jasper at
+last.
+
+"I think _you_ had better leave," Jasper screamed. He was very angry,
+because he knew that his friends were laughing at him. And instead of
+flying at the golden rooster again he made a swift attack on Jolly
+Robin.
+
+Being angry, Jasper had forgotten that Jolly Robin's wife was present.
+And to the blue-coated rascal there seemed suddenly to be as many as
+six Jolly Robins, each one with a furious wife, too.
+
+Jasper fought his hardest. But he was no match for them. Very soon he
+made for the woods; and as he flew away a blue tail-feather with a
+white tip floated down into the barnyard, where Johnnie Green had
+stood for some minutes, watching the strange sight on the roof of his
+father's barn.
+
+Johnnie picked up the feather and stuck it in his hat. And when he
+told his father, later, how a big blue jay had tried to whip the new
+weather-vane and a pair of robins as well, Farmer Green threw back his
+head and laughed loudly.
+
+"Don't you believe me?" Johnnie asked him. "Here's the blue jay's
+tail-feather, anyhow. And that ought to prove that I am telling the
+truth."
+
+But Farmer Green only laughed all the more. You see, he could hardly
+believe all the strange things that happened in the neighborhood.
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+CURIOUS MR. CROW
+
+
+Living in the orchard as they did, near the farmhouse, Jolly Robin and
+his wife knew more about Farmer Green's family than any of the other
+birds in Pleasant Valley, except maybe Rusty Wren. Being a house wren,
+Rusty was naturally on the best of terms with all the people in the
+farmhouse.
+
+But all summer long Rusty Wren never strayed far from home. So it was
+Jolly Robin who told his friends in the woods many strange stories
+about what happened near the orchard. His account of the golden bird
+was only one of many curious tales that he related to the wondering
+wood-creatures.
+
+Being so cheerful and having so much interesting news to tell, Jolly
+Robin was welcome wherever he went. And when his friends met him in
+the woods or the fields they were sure to stop and ask him if he
+hadn't some new story to tell. One day old Mr. Crow even took the
+trouble to fly all the way across the cornfield to the edge of the
+woods, where his sharp eyes had seen Jolly Robin eating wild
+cherries.
+
+"I say, what do you know that's new?" Mr. Crow asked him. The old
+gentleman was a very curious person. Being a great gossip, he was
+always on the lookout for something to talk about.
+
+"I don't believe I've seen anything lately that would interest you,"
+Jolly replied, "unless it's the four-armed man."
+
+Mr. Crow looked up quickly.
+
+"What's that you say?" he exclaimed.
+
+"The four-armed man!" Jolly Robin repeated.
+
+"Is that a joke?" Mr. Crow asked. He was inclined to be suspicious,
+because he always disliked having tricks played upon him. "I've heard
+of--and seen--a two-headed calf," he remarked. "But a four-armed man
+is a little too much for me to believe in, unless I behold him with my
+own eyes."
+
+Jolly Robin laughed.
+
+"It's no joke at all!" he declared.
+
+"Then what are you laughing at?" Mr. Crow inquired severely.
+
+"Nothing!" Jolly Robin answered. "It's just a habit of mine to
+laugh."
+
+"Very well!" said Mr. Crow. "I accept your apology. But please don't
+do it again.... And now," he added, "where, pray, is this wonderful
+four-armed man?"
+
+"In the barnyard!" Jolly Robin informed him. "I've often seen him
+lately, walking between the house and the barn. He looks a good deal
+like the hired-man. But of course it can't be he, for the
+hired-man--as you yourself know--has but two arms."
+
+"I must have a look at this monster," Mr. Crow remarked. "When would
+be a good time for me to see him?"
+
+"At milking-time," Jolly Robin told him. "If you'll meet me on the
+bridge down the road when you see Johnnie Green and old dog Spot
+driving the cows home from the pasture this afternoon, I'll be glad to
+show you the four-armed man. And then you'll admit that I'm not
+joking."
+
+"I'll certainly be there--" Mr. Crow promised--"but on one condition.
+You must tell me now whether you have ever known this queer being to
+fire a gun. If a two-armed man can shoot one gun, I see no reason why
+a four-armed man could not fire at least two guns at the same time.
+And if there's any chance of such a thing happening, I would not care
+to be present."
+
+Jolly Robin had hard work to keep from laughing again. The very idea
+of the four-armed man aiming two guns at old Mr. Crow struck him as
+being very funny. He couldn't speak at all for a few moments. But he
+shook his head violently.
+
+"You think there's no danger, then?" said Mr. Crow, anxiously.
+
+"None at all!" Jolly Robin answered him. "He carries nothing more
+dangerous than milk-pails."
+
+"Then I'll meet you on the bridge," Mr. Crow promised.
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+THE FOUR-ARMED MAN
+
+
+Old dog Spot was driving the last cow down the lane when Jolly Robin
+and Mr. Crow met on the bridge near the farmhouse, as they had
+agreed.
+
+"Now, then--" said Mr. Crow, even before his broad wings had settled
+smoothly along his back--"now, then, where's the four-armed man?"
+
+Jolly looked towards the barnyard.
+
+"I don't see him yet," he said. "But he ought to appear any moment
+now. Let's move over to the big oak, for we can get a better view of
+the barnyard from the top of it."
+
+Mr. Crow was more than willing. So they flew to the oak and waited for
+a time. They saw the cows file into the barn, each finding her own
+place in one of the two long rows of stanchions that faced each other
+across the wide aisle running the length of the barn. It was through
+that aisle that the men walked with great forkfuls of hay in the
+winter time, which they flung down before the cows, who munched it
+contentedly.
+
+But it was summer now. And the cows found their own food in the
+pasture on the hillside. They came to the barn only to be milked.
+
+"It's milking-time right now," Jolly Robin remarked. "And pretty soon
+you'll see the four-armed man come out of the barn with some pails
+full of milk. He'll carry them into the house, to set them in the
+buttery. We'll have a good look at him without his knowing anything
+about it."
+
+And that was exactly what happened.
+
+"Here he comes!" Jolly Robin exclaimed, as a figure stepped out of the
+barn and began walking toward the house. "Now, you'll have to admit
+that I wasn't joking when I told you the news of this strange being.
+You ought to be pretty glad I let you know about the four-armed man,
+Mr. Crow. I guess you never saw anything quite so queer as he is, even
+if you _have_ seen a two-headed calf." Jolly Robin said a great deal
+more to Mr. Crow. And he was so pleased that he started to sing a
+song.
+
+But Mr. Crow quickly silenced him.
+
+"Do keep still!" he whispered. "Do you want to get me into trouble?
+It's bad enough to have a trick like this played on me, without your
+making such a noise. Farmer Green might shoot me if he saw me so near
+his house. I thought--" Mr. Crow added--"I thought you laughed a
+little too much when you told me about your four-armed man. It's a
+hoax--a joke--a trick--and a very poor one, too."
+
+Jolly Robin was puzzled enough by Mr. Crow's disagreeable remarks.
+
+"I don't understand how you can say those things," he said.
+
+Mr. Crow looked narrowly at his small companion before answering. And
+then he asked:
+
+"Do you mean to say you never heard of a neck-yoke?"
+
+"Never!" cried Jolly Robin.
+
+"Well, well!" said Mr. Crow. "The ignorance of some people is more
+than I can understand.... That was no four-armed man. You said he
+looked like Farmer Green's hired-man; and it is not surprising that
+he does, for he is the hired-man. He has found an old neck-yoke
+somewhere. It is just a piece of wood that fits about his shoulders
+and around his neck and sticks out on each side of him like an arm.
+And he hooks a pail of milk to each end of the yoke, carrying his load
+in that way. I supposed," said Mr. Crow, "that people had stopped
+using neck-yokes fifty years ago. It's certainly that long since I've
+seen one."
+
+"Then it's no wonder that I made a mistake!" Jolly Robin cried. "For
+I'm too young ever to have heard of a neck-yoke, even." And he laughed
+and chuckled merrily. "It's a good joke on me!" he said.
+
+But old Mr. Crow did not laugh.
+
+"There you go, making a noise again!" he said crossly. "A person's not
+safe in your company." And he hurried off across the meadow. Mr. Crow
+was always very nervous when he was near the farmhouse.
+
+But Jolly Robin stayed right there until the hired-man walked back to
+the barn. He saw then that what Mr. Crow had told him was really so.
+And he never stopped laughing until long after sunset.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+A DOLEFUL DITTY
+
+
+Jolly Robin often complained about the wailing of Willie
+Whip-poor-will. Willie lived in the woods, which were not far from the
+orchard. And it was annoying to Jolly to hear his call,
+"_Whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will_," repeated over and over again for
+some two hours after Jolly's bed-time. Neither did Jolly Robin enjoy
+being awakened by that same sound an hour or two before he wanted to
+get up in the morning. And what was still worse, on moonlight nights
+Willie sometimes sang his favorite song from sunset to sunrise.
+
+"What a doleful ditty!" said Jolly Robin. "I must see this fellow and
+tell him that he ought to change his tune." But the trouble was that
+Jolly Robin did not like to roam about at night. He was always too
+sleepy to do that. And in the daytime Willie Whip-poor-will was
+silent, resting or sleeping upon the ground in the woods.
+
+But a day came at last when Jolly Robin stumbled upon Willie
+Whip-poor-will, sound asleep where he lived. And Jolly lost no time in
+waking him up.
+
+"I've been wanting to speak to you for some time," he told the drowsy
+fellow.
+
+"What's the matter?" Willie Whip-poor-will asked, with a startled
+stare. "Are the woods on fire?"
+
+"No!" said Jolly Robin. "I want to talk with you--that's all." And he
+was as cheerful as anyone could have wished.
+
+But Willie Whip-poor-will looked very cross.
+
+"This is a queer time to make a call!" he grumbled. "I don't like to
+be disturbed in broad daylight. I supposed everybody knew that
+midnight is the proper time for a visit."
+
+"But I'm always asleep then," Jolly Robin objected, "unless it's a
+moonlight night and you happen to be singing on my side of the
+woods."
+
+Willie Whip-poor-will looked almost pleasant when Jolly said that.
+
+"So you stay awake to hear me!" he exclaimed. "I see you like my
+singing."
+
+Jolly Robin laughed, because Willie had made such a funny mistake.
+
+"You're wrong!" he said. "In fact, I've been wanting to talk with you
+about that very thing. I want you to change your song, which is a very
+annoying one. It's altogether too disagreeable. I'll teach you my
+'_Cheerily-cheerup_' song. You'll like it much better, I think. And
+I'm sure all your neighbors will.... Why not learn the new song right
+now?" Jolly asked.
+
+But Willie Whip-poor-will made no answer. Looking at him more closely,
+Jolly Robin was amazed to see that he was sound asleep.
+
+"Here, wake up!" Jolly cried, as he nudged Willie under a wing.
+
+Again Willie Whip-poor-will sprang up with a bewildered expression.
+
+"Hullo!" he said. "What's the trouble? Did a tree fall?"
+
+"You went to sleep while I was talking to you," Jolly Robin
+explained.
+
+"Oh!" said Willie Whip-poor-will. "That doesn't matter. You must be
+used to that." And the words were scarcely out of his mouth before he
+had fallen asleep again.
+
+Jolly Robin looked at him in a puzzled way. He didn't see how he could
+teach Willie his "_Cheerily-cheerup_" song unless he could keep him
+awake. But he thought he ought to try; so he gave Willie a sharp tweak
+with his bill.
+
+"Did you hear what I said about your singing?" he shouted right in
+Willie's ear.
+
+Willie Whip-poor-will only murmured sleepily:
+
+"It's rheumatism. I just felt a twinge of it."
+
+He had no idea what Jolly Robin was talking about.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+SHOCKING MANNERS
+
+
+Jolly Robin tried his best to rouse Willie Whip-poor-will out of his
+daytime nap. But he had to admit to himself at last that his efforts
+were in vain. It was plain that Willie was too sleepy to understand
+what was said to him. And as for his learning a new song when he was
+in that condition, that was entirely out of the question.
+
+"I'll have to wait till sunset," Jolly Robin sighed at last. "That's
+the time that Willie always wakes up and begins to sing.... I'll come
+back here late this afternoon."
+
+So he left the woods; and he was busy every moment all the rest of
+the day.
+
+Shortly before sunset Jolly Robin went back to the place in the woods
+where he had left Willie Whip-poor-will sleeping. But Willie was no
+longer there. He had left only a few minutes before Jolly's arrival.
+And as Jolly sat on a low branch of a tree and looked all around, just
+as the sun dropped behind the mountain, a voice began singing from
+some point deeper in the woods. "_Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will!_"
+That was the way the song went.
+
+"There's Willie now!" Jolly Robin exclaimed. And he flew off at once
+to find his night-prowling friend. He knew that Willie Whip-poor-will
+was some distance away, because he couldn't hear the low "_chuck!_"
+with which Willie always began his song, as a sort of warning that he
+was going to sing, and that nobody could stop him.
+
+Jolly had a good deal of trouble finding the singer, because Willie
+Whip-poor-will didn't stay in one place. Between his bursts of song he
+coursed about hunting for insects, which he caught as he flew. So it
+was not surprising that Jolly did not come upon him until it had grown
+almost dark in the woods.
+
+"Hullo!" said Willie as soon as he saw Jolly Robin. "I haven't seen
+you for a long time."
+
+Jolly Robin laughed merrily.
+
+"Don't you remember my calling on you about noon to-day?" he asked.
+
+"You must be mistaken," Willie Whip-poor-will replied. "I've been
+asleep since sunrise--until a little while ago. And nobody came to see
+me."
+
+"You've forgotten," said Jolly. "But it's no matter. I can talk to you
+now just as well. I want to speak to you about your singing." Jolly
+paused then; and he yawned widely, for it was his bed-time that very
+moment.
+
+"Talk fast, please!" said Willie Whip-poor-will. "I haven't finished
+my breakfast yet. And I'm pretty hungry."
+
+It seemed queer, to Jolly Robin, that anyone should be eating his
+breakfast right after sunset. And he was about to say something about
+the matter. But just as he opened his mouth to speak he yawned again.
+And then, without realizing what he was doing, he tucked his head
+under his wing and fell asleep on the limb of the cedar tree where he
+was sitting.
+
+Willie Whip-poor-will looked at him in astonishment.
+
+"What shocking manners!" he exclaimed. "He went to sleep while we were
+talking. But I suppose he knows no better."
+
+Willie would have liked to know what Jolly Robin was going to say
+about his singing. But he was so hungry that he left Jolly asleep upon
+his perch and hurried off to look for more insects.
+
+Since it was a moonlight night, Willie Whip-poor-will spent all the
+time until sunrise in hunting for food. Now and then he stopped to
+rest and sing his queer song, which Jolly Robin did not like.
+
+But Jolly Robin slept so soundly that for once Willie's singing never
+disturbed him at all.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+A COLD GREETING
+
+
+When Jolly Robin awoke a little before dawn, after his night in the
+woods, he did not know at first where he was.
+
+Now, it happened that just as he was awaking in the cedar tree, Willie
+Whip-poor-will was going to sleep on the ground right beneath him. So
+when Jolly at last looked down and spied his friend, he remembered
+what had happened.
+
+"My goodness!" he said with a nervous laugh. "I fell asleep here last
+night! And I wonder what my wife will say when I get home." He would
+have liked to try to rouse Willie Whip-poor-will and speak to him
+about learning the new song. But he was so uneasy on account of what
+his wife might say about his having stayed away from home all night
+that he flew away as fast as he could go.
+
+It was exactly as he had feared. When he reached his house in the
+orchard his wife greeted him quite coldly. In fact, she hardly spoke
+to him at all. And when Jolly told her, with a good many chuckles,
+what a joke he had played on himself--falling asleep as he had, while
+making a call upon Willie Whip-poor-will--she did not even smile.
+
+"I should think you would be ashamed of yourself," she told him.
+"Willie Whip-poor-will is a good-for-nothing rascal. Everybody talks
+about the way he prowls through the woods all night and seldom goes to
+bed before morning. And his wife is no better than he is. They're too
+shiftless even to build themselves a nest. Mrs. Whip-poor-will leaves
+her eggs on the ground. And that's enough to know about _her_.
+
+"If you like to spend your time with such trash you'd better go over
+to the woods and live," Mrs. Robin said. And then she turned her back
+on her husband and set to work to clean her nest.
+
+Jolly and his wife happened to have five small children at the time.
+They were so young that they had never left home, not having learned
+to fly. And they were all clamoring for their breakfast.
+
+Thinking to please his wife, Jolly Robin went off and began gathering
+angleworms for the youngsters. But when he brought them home his wife
+told him that he had better eat them himself.
+
+"I am quite able to feed my own children without any help from a
+person who doesn't come home until after daybreak," she said.
+
+And she acted like that for two whole days. Naturally, Jolly Robin
+felt very uncomfortable during that time. And ever afterward he took
+good care to have nothing to do with Willie Whip-poor-will.
+
+He did wish, however, that Willie would learn a new song. For Jolly
+disliked more than ever to hear that "_Whip-poor-will!
+Whip-poor-will!_" repeated over and over again. It always reminded him
+of the time he made his wife angry by spending the night away from
+home.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Jolly Robin, by Arthur Scott Bailey
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