THE GOOD LITTLE CRANES WHO WERE BAD
When the Sand-Hill Cranes were married, they began to work for a home oftheir own. To be sure, they had chosen a place for it beforehand, yetthere were other things to think about, and some of their friends toldthem it would be very foolish to build on the ground. "There are so manyaccidents to ground nests," these friends said. "There are Snakes, youknow, and Rats, and a great many other people whom you would not want tohave look in on your children. Besides, something might fall on it."
The young couple talked this all over and decided to build in a tree."We are not afraid of Snakes and Rats," they said, "but we would fearsomething falling on the nest." They were talking to quite an old Cranewhen they said this.
"Do you mean to build in a tree?" said he. "My dear young friends, don'tdo that. Just think, a high wind might blow the nest down and spoileverything. Do whatever you wish, but don't build in a tree." Then heflew away.
"Dear me!" exclaimed young Mrs. Crane, "one tells me to do this andnever to do that. Another tells me to do that and never to do this. Ishall just please myself since I cannot please my friends."
"And which place do you choose?" asked her husband, who always likedwhatever she did.
"I shall build on the ground," she said decidedly. "If the tree falls,it may hit the nest and it may not, but if we build in the tree and itfalls, we are sure to hit the ground."
"How wise you are!" exclaimed her husband. "I believe people get in away of building just so, and come to think that no other way can beright." Which shows that Mr. Sand-Hill Crane was also wise.
Both worked on the nest, bringing roots and dried grasses with which tobuild it up. Sometimes they went to dance with their friends, and whenthey did they bowed most of the time to each other. They did not reallycare very much about going, because they were so interested in the nest.This they had to build quite high from the ground, on account of theirlong legs. "If I were a Duck," said Mrs. Sand-Hill Crane, "it would dovery well for me to sit on the nest, but with my legs? Never! I would assoon sit on two bare branches as to have them doubled under me." So shetried the nest until it was just as high as her legs were long.
When it was high enough, she laid in it two gray eggs with brown spots.After that she did no more dancing, but stood with a leg on either sideof the nest, and her soft body just over the eggs to keep them warm. Itwas very tiresome work, and sometimes Mr. Crane covered the eggs whileshe went fishing. The Cranes are always very kind to their wives.
This, you know, was the first time that either had had a nest, and itwas all new and wonderful to them. They thought that there never hadbeen such a beautiful home. They often stood on the ground beside it,and poked it this way and that with their bills, and said to each other,"Just look at this fine root that I wove in," or, "Have you noticed howwell that tuft of dried grass looks where I put it?" As it came near thetime for their eggs to hatch, they could hardly bear to be away longenough to find food.
One day young Mr. Sand-Hill Crane came home much excited. "Ourneighbors, the Cranes who live across the pond," said he, "had twochildren hatched this morning."
"Oh, how glad I am!" cried his wife. "How glad I am! Those eggs werelaid just before ours, which must hatch very soon now."
"That is what I thought," said he. "I feel so sorry for them, though,for I saw their children, and they are dreadfully homely,--not at alllike their parents, who are quite good-looking."
"I must see them myself," said his wife, "and if you will cover the eggswhile I go for food, I will just peep in on them. I will hurry back."She flew steadily across the pond, which was not very wide, and asked tosee the babies. She had never seen any Crane children, you know, sinceshe herself was little. She thought them very ugly to look at, andwondered how their mother could seem bright and cheerful with two suchdisappointing children. She said all the polite things that she honestlycould, then got something to eat, and flew home. "They are very, veryhomely," she said to her husband, "and I think it queer. All their olderchildren are good-looking."
She had hardly said this when she heard a faint tapping sound in thenest. She looked, and there was the tip of a tiny beak showing throughthe shell of one egg. She stood on one side of the nest, watching, andher husband stood on the other while their oldest child slowly made hisway out. They dared not help for fear of hurting him, and besides, allthe other Cranes had told them that they must not.
"Oh, look!" cried the young mother. "What a dear little bill!"
"Ah!" said the young father. "Did you ever see such a neck?"
"Look at those legs," cried she. "What a beautiful child he is!"
"He looks just like you," said the father, "and I am glad of it."
"Ah, no," said she. "He is exactly like you." And she began to clearaway the broken egg-shell.
Soon the other Crane baby poked her bill out, and again the youngparents stood around and admired their child. They could not decidewhich was the handsomer, but they were sure that both were remarkablebabies. They felt more sorry than ever for their neighbors across thepond, who had such homely children. They took turns in covering theirown damp little Cranes, and were very, very happy.
Before this, it had been easy to get what food they wanted, for therehad been two to work for two. Now there were two to work for four, andthat made it much harder. There was no time for dancing, and bothfather and mother worked steadily, yet they were happier than ever, andneither would have gone back to the careless old days for all the foodin the pond or all the dances on the beach.
The little Cranes grew finely. They changed their down for pin-feathers,and then these grew into fine brownish gray feathers, like those whichtheir parents wore. They were good children, too, and very well broughtup. They ate whatever food was given to them, and never found fault withit. When they left the nest for the first time, they fluttered andtumbled and had trouble in learning to walk. A Mud Turtle Father who wasnear, told them that this was because their legs were too long and toofew.
"Well," said the brother, as he picked himself up and tried to stand onone leg while he drew the other foot out of the tangled grass, "theymay be too long, but I'm sure there are enough of them. When I'mthinking about one, I never can tell what the other will do."
Still, it was not long before they could walk and wade and even fly.Then they met the other pond people, and learned to tell a Sticklebackfrom a Minnow. They did not have many playmates. The saucy littleKingfishers sat on branches over their heads, the Wild Ducks waddled orswam under their very bills, the Fish Hawks floated in air above them,and the Gulls screamed hoarsely to them as they circled over the pond,yet none of them were long-legged and stately. The things that the otherbirds enjoyed most, they could not do, and sometimes they did not likeit very well. One night they were talking about the Gulls, when theyshould have been asleep, and their father told them to tuck their headsright under their wings and not let him hear another word from them.They did tuck their heads under their wings, but they peeped out betweenthe feathers, and when they were sure their father and mother wereasleep, they walked softly away and planned to do something naughty.
"I'm tired of being good," said the brother. "The Gulls never are good.They scream, and snatch, and contradict, and have lots of fun. Let's bebad just for fun."
"All right," said his sister. "What shall we do?"
"That's the trouble," said he. "I can't think of anything naughty that Ireally care for."
Each stood on one leg and thought for a while. "We might run away," saidshe.
"Where would we go?" asked he.
"We might go to the meadow," said she. So they started off in themoonlight and went to the meadow, but all the people there were asleep,except the Tree Frog, and he scrambled out of the way as soon as he sawthem coming, because he thought they might want a late supper.
"This isn't any fun!" said the brother. "Let's go to the forest."
They went to the forest, and saw the Bats flitting in and out among thetrees, and the Bat
s flew close to the Cranes and scared them. The GreatHorned Owl stood on a branch near them, and stared at them with his biground eyes, and said, "Who? Who? Waugh-ho-oo!" Then the brother andsister stood closer together and answered, "If you please, sir, we arethe Crane children."
But the Great Horned Owl kept on staring at them and saying "Who? Who?Waugh-ho-oo!" until they were sure he was deaf, and answered louder andlouder still.
The Screech Owls came also, and looked at them, and bent their bodiesover as if they were laughing, and nodded their heads, and shookthemselves. Then the Crane children were sure that they were being madefun of, so they stalked away very stiffly, and when they were out ofsight of the Owls, they flew over toward the farmhouse. They were nothaving any fun at all yet, and they meant to keep on trying, for whatwas the good of being naughty if they didn't?
They passed Horses and Cows asleep in the fields, and saw the Brown Hoglying in the pen with a great many little Brown Pigs and one White Pigsleeping beside her. Nobody was awake except Collie, the Shepherd Dog,who was sitting in the farmyard with his nose in the air, barking at themoon.
"Go away!" he said to the Crane children, who were walking around theyard. "Go away! I must bark at the moon, and I don't want anybodyaround." They did not start quite soon enough to please him, so hedashed at them, and ran around them and barked at them, instead of atthe moon, until they were glad enough to fly straight home to the placewhere their father and mother were sleeping with their heads under theirwings.
"Are you going to tell them?" asked the brother.
"I don't know," answered the sister. When morning came, they lookedtired, and their father and mother seemed so worried about them thatthey told the whole story.
"We didn't care so very much about what we did," they said, "but wethought it would be fun to be naughty."
The father and mother looked at each other in a very knowing way. "Agreat many people think that," said the mother gently. "They aremistaken after all. It is really more fun to be good."
"Well, I wish the Gulls wouldn't scream, 'Goody-goody' at us," said thebrother.
"What difference does that make?" asked his father. "Why should a Cranecare what a Gull says?"
"Why, I--I don't know," stammered the brother. "I guess it doesn't makeany difference after all."
The next day when the Crane children were standing in the edge of thepond, a pair of young Gulls flew down near them and screamed out,"Goody-goody!"
Then the Crane brother and sister lifted their heads and necks andopened their long bills, and trumpeted back, "Baddy-baddy!"
"There!" they said to each other. "Now we are even."