lowers, the
grass was growing tall, and the bees were humming everywhere.

One of the birds fell to singing, and the other bird said, "Who told you
to sing?"

He answered, "The flowers and the bees told me. The blue sky told me,
and you told me."

"When did I tell you to sing?" asked his mate.

"Every time you brought in tender grass for the nest," he replied.
"Every time your soft wings fluttered off again for hair and feathers to
line it."

Then his mate asked, "What are you singing about?"

"I am singing about everything," he answered. "I sing because I am
happy."

By and by five little speckled eggs were in the nest, and the mother
bird asked, "Is there anything in all the world as pretty as my eggs?"

A week or two afterward, the mother said, "Oh, what do you think has
happened? One of my eggs has been peeping and moving."

Soon another egg moved, then another, and another, till five eggs were
hatched.

The little birds were so hungry that it kept the parents busy feeding
them. Away they both flew. The moment the little birds heard them coming
back, five yellow mouths flew open wide.

"Can anybody be happier?" said the father bird to the mother bird. "We
will live in this tree always. It is a tree that bears joy."

II

The very next day one of the birds dropped out of the nest, and in a
moment a cat ate it up. Only four remained, and the parent birds were
very sad. There was no song all that day, nor the next.

Soon the little birds were big enough to fly. The first bird that tried
his wings flew from one branch to another. His parents praised him, and
the other baby birds wondered how he had done it.

The little one was so proud of it that he tried again. He flew and flew
and couldn't stop flying. At last he fell plump! down by the kitchen
door. A little boy caught him and carried him into the house.

Now only three birds were left. The sun no longer seemed bright to the
birds, and they did not sing so often.

In a little time the other birds learned to use their wings, and they
flew away and away. They found their own food and made their own nests.

Then the old birds sat silent and looked at each other a long while. At
last the mother bird asked, "Why don't you sing?"

"I can't sing," the father bird answered. "I only think and think!"

"What are you thinking of?"

"I am thinking how everything changes. The leaves are falling, and soon
there will be no roof over our heads. The flow