d her father, as the smallest of the three
stretched her little hand toward me; "that fellow bites like a savage."

"Poor Rito, he won't bite me," she said, sweetly; but I know I would
have done it then, had not the children's mother astonished me by boldly
taking me on her hand. "Poor Lorito," she said. "Look at his feet. They
are all red and swelled. Anybody would be cross left all alone on a
perch with his feet chained together."

She then gently removed my chain, and called the house-maid to carry the
perch, with me upon it, to her sitting-room, and to prepare a dish of
wine and sugar to bathe my feet.

When I found myself alone in the sitting-room, and had time to think
quietly, I realized that a great change had taken place in the house.
Three children had come home, and my solitary days were over. They might
tease me, perhaps, but at least they would be company. Another thing too
I realized, and that was that for the first time I was free. I looked
around the room. It was light and sunny, and I could see that it was
filled with various pieces of handsome furniture for which parrots have
no use. You may be surprised, but to my mind a branch of a tree in a
wild forest is infinitely more beautiful and useful than all the fine
furniture in the world.

I began slowly to swing myself down from my perch with the intention of
making a close inspection of the room. I am almost sure that at first I
was more curious than malicious, but, alas! I had scarcely started on my
voyage of discovery when I perceived a small blue and gilt bowl standing
upon the marble hearth. It contained the sweetened wine ordered as a
healing bath for my feet. The fragrance was so enticing that, forgetting
the good precepts my mother had taught me, I dipped my beak into the
bowl and took a long drink, nor did I stop so long as a single drop
remained.

[Illustration: "TEARING OUT NAIL AFTER NAIL."]

No sooner had I swallowed the contents of the bowl than I felt a strange
burning sensation in my head, which seemed on the point of dancing away
from my body. I was possessed of an intense desire to fight something,
and I gazed eagerly around the room in the hope of finding some enemy
with whom I could engage in mortal combat. I saw no moving thing in the
whole apartment which I could attack, but unfortunately my eyes fell
upon some shining brass nails which served as ornaments round the edge
of a table. To my heated imagination each nail seemed gl