Page:A Study of Fairy Tales.djvu/174

150 rest among your lovely red leaves until my broken wing is mended and my friends come back to me?"

Maple. "Oh, no, I could not think of it! I have just dressed my leaves all in red and you might spoil their lovely clothes. Do go away. There are other trees in the forest not so gay as I."

The Bird. "What should I do? No one wants to help me. Can I not find one kind tree? Dear kind Willow, your branches bend almost to the ground. Could I live in them until the spring-time?"

Willow. "Really, little Bird with the broken wing, you are a stranger. You should have gone with the other birds. Maybe some other tree can help you but we willows are particular."

The Bird. "I do not know where to go and I 'm so cold! I wonder if the other birds have reached the beautiful warm South."

Spruce. "Little Bird, little Bird, where are you going?"

The Bird. "I do not know. I am very cold."

Spruce. "Come, make a big hop and rest in this snug corner of my branches. You can stay with me all winter if you like."

The Bird. "You are so good, dear Spruce-tree. Will you really let me?"

Spruce. "If your friends the birds have left you, your other friends, the trees, will surely help you. Ho, Pine-tree, you would help a little Bird with a broken wing, would n't you?"

Pine. "Oh, yes, dear Bird! My branches are not wide but I am tall and thick, and I will keep the cold North Wind from you."

Juniper. "And maybe I can help. Are you hungry, little Bird? You can eat my nice little berries whenever you like."

The Bird. "Thank you, kind friends! I will go to sleep now on this nice branch of the Spruce-tree. Good-night, dear Trees."

Spruce, Pine, and Juniper. "Good-night, little Bird."

North Wind. "Oo,—Oo!—Now I must run in and out among all the trees of the forest.—But who comes here?"