THE THRUSH"S SONG
One day a shepherd boy was keeping his sheep on a hill, when he heard a thrush singing, "Come and get it ! Come and get it! Come and get it!""Get what ?" asked the shepherd boy; but all the thrush answered was, "Come and get it! Come and get it!" till the shepherd boy could stand it no longer.
"Very well, I will!" he said at last, and randown to the farm to ask his master for a holiday. "You may take the day off, but you must be back by sunset to put the sheep in the fold," saidthe farmer.
The shepherd boy ran off, calling to the thrush, "Now, Thrush, I will follow you!""Come and get it!" sang the thrush, and flew
ahead. They went down the lane, and across the meadow, and up the hill.
"Is it much farther?" asked the boy.
"Come and get it!" sang the thrush from the tree beside the stile.
In the hedge was an old kettle.
"That"s it!" cried the shepherd boy, and seized hold of it.
Out flew Mrs. Robin in a great state of alarm. "Go away ! Let it alone ! That"s my nest! Howdare you touch it!" she chattered.
The shepherd boy peeped in, and --sure enough --there was, inside, a little nest with five pink-spotted eggs.
"I"m so sorry," he said to Mrs. Robin, putting back the kettle very carefully.
She popped inside again, and he heard the thrush calling from the next field, "Come andget it!"
"A shepherd boy was keeping his sheep."
"I wonder what it is?" he thought, hurrying on.
Still the thrush flew ahead.
At mid-day the shepherd boy sat down to rest under a tree, and ate the dinner he carried in his pouch, while the thrush sang over his head.
As soon as he had finished, it flew off again, still calling, "Come and get it!"In the middle of the next field was a big round ant-hill covered with thyme, and on top was the biggest grey snail-shell the shepherd boy had ever seen.
"Now I"ve got it!" he cried, picking it up.
Out came the snail"s head, and out stretched his horns. "Put down my house at once!" he said. "How would you like some one to pick up your house like this ?" "I"m very sorry," said the shepherd boy; "I did not know you were at home."He put down the snail and ran on, for the thrush was singing, "Come and get it," in the wood beyond.
Through the wood they went, and right across the common. "If I do not turn back soon, I shall not be home by sunset," thought the shepherd boy.
Just then, he came upon a fairy ring, and in the middle was the most beautiful toadstool ever seen. It was red on top, and had white frills underneath.
"At last!" cried the shepherd boy, and he was just going to gather it, when out peeped a tiny elf.
"Oh, don"t take away my sun-shade!" he begged. "I shall never find such a pretty one again.""Of course I won"t!" said the shepherd boy;
but he thought to himself, "I shall never find outwhat the thrush is singing about after all, for the shadows are so long that it is time for me to go back."But, at that very moment, he heard the thrush singing, "Here! here! here!" It was perched outside a rabbit burrow, and outside the biggest hole sat Mr. Rabbit, wringing his paws, and crying, "Won"t anybody take it away?""Take what away?" asked the shepherd boy, and then he saw, just inside the burrow, a puppy curled up asleep.
"It was lost!" said Mr. Rabbit, "and I took it in; but it won"t eat clover, or dandelion, or even carrots; and it takes up such a lot of room. I do wish some one would take it away! ""Take it away! Take it away!" sang the thrush. So the shepherd boy picked up the puppy and carried it home. When he got there, the sun wassetting, and it was time to drive the sheep totheir fold.
He kept the puppy, and, when it grew up, it was the best sheep dog in the whole country.
--M. BRAIDWOOD
