They were eating the seeds almost as fast as Father Thrift and Shaggydropped them into the ground.
Father Thrift stopped in his work.
"Crows and blackbirds," he said, "you must not do that."
"Why?" asked one old crow. "We always have done it."
"Yes, I know you have," replied Father Thrift. "And that is what hasgiven you such a bad name with the farmer.
"By eating the seed or pulling up sprouting corn you spoil the crop.And so you have less food for yourselves in the end."
"How is that?" asked Cousin Blackbird.
"Well," explained Father Thrift, "every grain of corn you eat nowwould make ears of corn if you let it stay in the ground to grow.
"And of every ear of corn grown some kernels are left in the field inthe shocking. So that for every kernel not eaten now you would havemany kernels in the autumn.
"Besides, if you will keep the bad bugs and worms and grasshoppers outof my garden, I promise to give you every tenth ear of all the corn Igrow."
Then the crows got together. And all you could hear from them was aloud "Caw, caw, caw!"
But they must have agreed that Father Thrift's proposal was a fairone. The old crow spoke for all the crows. He said:
"We will do as you ask, Father Thrift. We wish all farmers were asreasonable with us.
"We help the farmer, but we get no credit for it. We eat many, manygrasshoppers and beetles and worms and caterpillars and weevils everyyear.
"These would be at work destroying the farmer's crops if we did noteat them. And, for all that, the farmer is always chasing and killingus."
"No," said Father Thrift, "the farmer does not dislike you for thegood you do. He dislikes you for the harm you do. Your bad habits makeyou unpopular. Why don't you give them up?"
"Caw, caw, caw!" cried all the crows. I suppose they meant, "Yes, yes,yes."
But whether or not they meant what they said I don't know.
As for the blackbirds, whatever was agreeable to the crows wassatisfactory to them. And they flew away singing, "Conk-err-ee!Conk-err-ee!"
And as Father Thrift and Shaggy Bear sat down under a tree to rest,Mr. Robin sang his song from the topmost bough. It was like this:
Cheerily cheer-up! Cheerily cheer-up! Cheerily cheer, five of us here; Mother and me, and babies three. Cheer up, Cheerily cheer, we're happy here.
You see, Mr. Robin's English was not perfect, but he was too happy tobe careful.
THE LITTLE RAINDROPS
Every seventh day Father Thrift rested. To-day was Sunday, the seventhday.
Father Thrift, as usual, arose just as the gray clouds were biddingthe earth good-by.
How that queer little old man did enjoy those summer mornings!
Not many people get up early enough to know what they are like.
It is then that the birds sing for Father Sun to awake. And the chorusof thanksgiving which arises from the woods and the fields is enoughto gladden any one's heart.
Every boy and girl should learn to know these beautiful morning hours.
But this morning the dark clouds lingered longer than usual. That wasbecause they had brought the raindrops from their home in the sky tovisit the earth below.
The flowers lifted their grateful heads to greet the raindrops.
The thirsty roots under the ground were made glad by them. And so werethe leaves and the buds and all the growing green things above theground.
The frogs jumped about in their glee and croaked joyfully, "Oh, whatfun we have!"
The brook rushed rejoicing to the river, and the river ran to the sea.And both sang on their way.
But the birds and the squirrels were not so happy when the raindropscame tumbling down from the sky. They hid in their nests and under theleaves of the trees and waited for them to go away.
Even Shaggy Bear did not like the rain. He hid in the cave, to keephis fur dry.
Now the time was drawing near when most people were waking--that is,in the cities. The farmer has learned to know the beautiful earlyhours of the morning.
"Let us play," cried a tiny raindrop to the others. "Let us play andstay here always. For the earth is a beautiful place."
But the older and wiser raindrops trickled away and hid almostanywhere they could.
Some of them hid in Father Thrift's garden. Some of them jumped intothe brook.
They knew they were sent down to the earth to do some good, and not tospend their time in playing. They had plenty of time in the sky forplay.
So if they wished to stay on the earth they must work.
The little raindrops that hid in Father Thrift's garden would help tomake the plants grow.
Those that jumped into the brook would help to give a good cool drinkto all who were thirsty.
Then Father Sun came out from behind the gray clouds.
"Come, little raindrops, down on earth," he said. "Those of you thatare not busy, or are not needed there, must come home. You haveimportant work to do elsewhere."
And, like the good father that he was, he gathered up all that hecould find and put them into pretty white and blue boats. And the windgently sailed them across the sky.
Then the Rain Fairies and the Sun Fairies joined hands until they madea beautiful arch from earth to heaven.
We call this arch the rainbow. The gay colors are the pretty dressesof the fairies.
Now the birds of the forest came forth from their nests. Theyfluttered their little wings and sent the raindrops which had restedon them down to the flowers and the grasses.
Then they flew into the tree tops, where Father Sun could see them.And, as though to make up for lost time, they sang more sweetly thanthey did on clear days.
How their songs gladdened the forest!
Father Thrift sat on a log to listen to that orchestra of a thousandthroats trilling from the tree tops.
And Shaggy Bear came out from the cave and sat down beside him.
"A pretty world it would be without the birds!" said Father Thrift.
"How dull it would be without their colors! The rainbow cannot matchthem.
"How cheerless it would be without their song! Man cannot equal it."
And you may be sure that Father Thrift and Shaggy Bear did not forgetthe birds in their prayers that night.
TROUBLE IN THE FOREST
The next day was Monday, the first of July. Father Thrift turned theleaf of his homemade calendar. Then he and Shaggy Bear went out intothe garden to work.
All of a sudden they heard such a commotion! They looked up and saw agreat flock of birds flying toward them.
There were robins and bluebirds and kingbirds and bobolinks and brownthrashers and catbirds and meadow larks and woodpeckers and wrens, andall the other birds of the forest.
Did they come to sing for Father Thrift because it was the first ofJuly?
No, not one of the birds was singing now. They were chattering andcrying, but you could not make out what the fuss was all about.
To Father Thrift and Shaggy it sounded something like this:
Charr, charr, caw, caw, churr, churr, chee, chee, Peenk, peenk, quit, quit, chuck, chuck, whee, whee, Tzip, tzip, thsee, thsee, conk-err-ee, whack, Jay, jay, mew, mew, whip, chip, crack, tchack, R-r-r-r-r-r-r!!
"R-r-r-r-r-r-r" meant, "We're angry. Next time we will fight them."
Now the woodpeckers drummed for quiet: "Rrr-runk, tunk, tunk!"
Then Mr. Robin walked up to Father Thrift. He said, "Oh, FatherThrift, we have come to tell you that the boys have been very mean tous. Let me tell you what they did to us.
"While Mrs. Robin and I were away they climbed up into the tree wherewe had built our nest and stole our eggs." And there were tears inhis bright eyes.
Then Mr. Bluebird came. He was a pretty little fellow, and mannerlytoo. "Oh, Father Thrift," he said, "let me tell you what the boys didto me.
"My nest was in a hole in your apple tree. The boys tore the greenapples of
f the tree and threw them all about. They stuffed them intothe hole where my nest was and now I have no home.
"They are not afraid even of you."
Then Mr. Kingbird came up. He said: "What Cousin Bluebird has justtold you is true. One of the apples struck my nest and knocked itdown.
"There were four speckled eggs in it. I have lost not only my home butmy pretty eggs with it. Is that right, Father Thrift?"
And sadness and sorrow were in his voice.
Just then Brown Thrasher came along. He was hopping on one foot. "Oh,Father Thrift," he said, "look what has happened to me! I was harmingno one. I was just singing a song, when I was hit in the leg."
"And pretty are the songs you can sing," said Father Thrift. "Many,many times have I been made happy by your sweet and cheerful notes.But who was it that hurt you?"
"The boys," replied Brown Thrasher. "They hit me with a stone fromtheir sling shot and broke my leg."
Now Mrs. Bobolink came up. "Oh, Father Thrift," she said, sobbing,"hear me!
"While I put our house in order Mr. Bobolink would stand guard to seethat no enemies came near us.
"And he would sing to me at the same time. Such sweet songs as hecould sing! I think no other bird could equal him.
"We, too, had some eggs in our nest. And we were happy. Yesterday Mr.Bobolink was perched on the tip of a bough, singing, when suddenly hefell to the ground.
"I flew to see what the trouble was. And do you know what hadhappened?
"He was dead. He had been hit on the head with a stone. Not far away Isaw the boys who killed him.
"To-day we dug a grave and buried him under his favorite tree." Andpoor Mrs. Bobolink cried harder than ever.
Then Father and Mother Meadow Lark came up. "Oh, Father Thrift," theycried, "listen to what has happened to us!
"We had four little children in a nest in the field. The nest wascovered over with grasses. We thought it perfectly safe.
"But while we were away getting food for our little ones, some onestole them all."
And the Meadow Larks wept as though their hearts would break.
"It must have been the boys!" chorused all the birds.
Father Thrift looked very angry.
"All this is very sad," he said. "I am sorry indeed to hear it. But,little friends, go home and make the best of things for the present.
"Shaggy Bear and I will find some way to help you."
Then the birds flew away. And they made such a noise that the cloudstrembled in the sky.
TWO BAD BOYS
For a while neither Father Thrift nor the bear spoke.
Then the queer little old man said:
"Those boys must be punished, Shaggy. They must be taught a lesson.Killing birds is no joke.
"To-morrow morning take your lunch with you and go to the north edgeof the forest. There you will find a crooked road that is littletraveled.
"I believe that this is the road over which the boys came. They willcome again.
"Hide yourself behind a tree and watch for them. And when you catchthem bring them to me."
"Yes, yes," said Shaggy, "I certainly will."
So early the next morning Father Thrift packed the bear's lunch andoff Shaggy started for the north edge of the forest.
But he returned late that night, tired and cross, without the boys.
The same thing happened the next day, and the next.
Shaggy was so discouraged by this time that he thought it of no use totry again.
But Father Thrift said: "Go just this once more. And if you do nothave better luck to-day you need not go again."
So Shaggy went for the fourth time.
And, as it happened, he did have better luck.
When he reached the edge of the forest he seated himself beside alarge tree near the road, to watch. But the kind breeze was blowing sosoftly that he soon fell asleep.
And as he slept he dreamed a dream--a very strange sort of dream.
He dreamed he was the king of Honeybee Land. All of his subjects werehoneybees, and there were exactly one million of them.
In another month there would be half a million more of them.
If he had so much honey now, think how much more he would have whenthe other half million honeybees started to gather it!
Now all that he had to do was to eat the honey as fast as thehoneybees made it.
That seemed easy enough. _Um-m_, how he loved that honey!
But soon he found out that bees are very busy and very thrifty littlethings.
Oh, how very, _very_ busy they kept him trying to eat all the honeythey made!
Each day his stomach was getting larger and larger. How much farthercould it stretch?
Then, "Whizz!" he woke up with a start.
"I thought so! I thought so!" he said to himself, as he placed hispaws on his stomach and rolled up his eyes.
But, no, his stomach hadn't exploded at all. He could feel that.
Besides, there was an arrow lying right beside him. The arrow musthave hit him.
Just then he happened to remember where he was.
"The boys!" he said to himself. "The boys! In mischief, with a bow andarrows."
He looked around. And there they were, sitting under a tree not ahundred feet away from him!
He could see a bow and arrows on the ground beside them. But what werethey doing?
They were holding something in their hands. First they would look atit, then they would blow on it. Then they would look again and blowagain.
The bear crept closer. Everything was clear to him now! The boys hadkilled a bird and they were trying to find the spot where the arrowhad struck it.
So interested were they in this that they did not notice the bearstealing up behind them.
When he got right over them he gave a dreadful growl: "Gr-r-r-r!"
It was very loud and very fierce.
"Why did you kill that bird?" he asked. "I have a good mind to eat youalive." And he gave another fierce growl.
The boys acted like frightened rabbits. They were too astonished tospeak.
The bear picked up the bow and arrows.
"One, attention!" he commanded. "Two, get ready! Three, go!"
The boys took to the path which led toward their homes. But the bearcalled them back.
"You don't understand," he said. "Now, go the other way. To-night youmust report to Father Thrift. Gr-r-r-r! And not another word."
This last command must have been a bear joke, for the boys had notuttered a word.
Then away they all started--the boys as Shaggy's prisoners--for thecave in the forest.
THE BOYS AND THE BIRDS
The boys spent an uncomfortable night in Father Thrift's cave.
Half the time they could not sleep. And, worse still, the other halfthey dreamed such dreadful dreams!
But the next morning, after they had had breakfast with Father Thriftand Shaggy Bear, the boys felt much better.
Still, they had a feeling that something terrible was about to happento them. How they longed to go home!
Then the queer little old man seated himself on a log just outside thedoor of the cave.
"Shaggy Bear," he said, "go, tell Jenny Wren to ask all the birds ofthe forest to come here."
Soon all the birds had come. And, oh! what excitement there was whenthey saw the boys!
"Shoot them with an arrow! Hit them with a stone! Kill them!" theangry little creatures cried.
Father Thrift lifted his hand for order.
When things were quiet, and the birds had gathered around him, thequeer little old man stood up. In a soft and somewhat sad voice hesaid to the birds:
"My friends, let us act calmly and justly. Let us consider well beforewe decide on the punishment which these boys should receive if theyare found guilty."
"But," protested Mr. Robin, "they climbed into our tree and stole oureggs."
"They ruined my home," cried Cousin Bluebird, "and they wasted yourapples in doing it!"
<
br /> "Yes, and they knocked down my nest and broke all the eggs in it,"added Mr. Kingbird.
"They broke my leg with a stone from a sling shot," piped BrownThrasher.
"And they killed my poor husband," cried Mrs. Bobolink.
"They stole our four little children," sobbed the Meadow Larks.
"And they shot a bird with an arrow yesterday," added Shaggy Bear."Here is the bird. Here, too, are the bow and the arrow." And hehanded them all to Father Thrift.
"Why, they've shot my cousin, Blackbird!" cried the Crow, who had beenquiet up to now. "I have a good mind to bite off their noses andscratch out their eyes."
"R-r-r-r-r-r! Charr! charr! charr!" All the birds became very muchexcited. They screamed and fluttered their wings, and their eyes shonewith anger.
The boys were badly frightened. But Father Thrift quickly restoredorder.
He said: "Let us first hear what the boys have to say. We will askthem a few questions."
He faced the boys. "Did you do what the birds say you did?" he asked.
The boys hung their heads in shame.
Then one of them answered, after a pause, "I guess so."
"_Why_ did you do it?" asked Father Thrift.
"Well," replied the other boy, "most of the birds are no good, anyway.They just eat everything we plant."
"What of yours have they eaten?" asked Father Thrift.