ad children of my own. How
can such a creature be allowed to live and wander about upon the roofs?
I don't think they allow such things in Portugal."

She pitied the little singing bird, and so did all the other ducks, who
were not Portuguese.

"Poor little creature!" they said, one after another, as they came up.
"We can't sing, certainly; but we have a sounding board, or something of
the kind, within us, though we don't talk about it."

"But I can talk," said the Portuguese duck. "I'll do something for the
little fellow; it's my duty." So she stepped into the watering trough
and beat her wings upon the water so strongly that the little bird was
nearly drowned. But the duck meant it kindly. "That is a good deed," she
said; "I hope the others will take example from it."

"Tweet, tweet!" said the little bird. One of his wings was broken and he
found it difficult to shake himself, but he quite understood that the
bath was meant kindly, so he said, "You are very kind-hearted, madam."
But he did not wish for a second bath.

"I have never thought about my heart," replied the Portuguese duck; "but
I know that I love all my fellow creatures, except the cat, and nobody
can expect me to love her, for she ate up two of my ducklings. But pray
make yourself at home; it is easy to make oneself comfortable. I myself
am from a foreign country, as you may see by my bearing and my feathery
dress. My husband is a native of these parts; he's not of my race, but I
am not proud on that account. If any one here can understand you, I may
say positively that I am that person."

"She's quite full of _portulak_," said a little common duck, who was
witty. All the common ducks considered the word "portulak" a good joke,
for it sounded like "Portugal." They nudged each other and said, "Quack!
that was witty!"

Then the other ducks began to notice the newcomer. "The Portuguese has
certainly a great flow of language," they said to the little bird. "For
our part, we don't care to fill our beaks with such long words, but we
sympathize with you quite as much. If we don't do anything else, we can
walk about with you everywhere; that is the best we can do."

"You have a lovely voice," said one of the eldest ducks; "it must be a
great satisfaction to you to be able to give as much pleasure as you do.
I am certainly no judge of your singing, so I keep my beak shut, which
is better than talking nonsense as others do."

"Don't plague him so," interr