as walking in the
King's Garden. He asked the Peacock did he ever listen to stories.

"No," said the Peacock as he mounted the steps of the terrace. "No.
Certainly not. I do not demean myself by listening to any of the
stories they tell down below there." He spread out his tail, and, that
he might view his own magnificence, he turned his blue, shining neck.

Hoodie the grey-headed Crow with the bright sharp eyes hopped after
him.

"Jewels! Kings! Magicians! Palaces! Dragons! What do geese, grouse and
farmyard fowl know of such things? And yet they presume to tell
stories! Tell stories that have nothing in them of Jewels, Kings,
Magicians, Palaces, or Dragons!"

"Nothing at all about such things," said Hoodie the Crow, as he
plucked a feather out of the Peacock's tail.

"Yet they will not listen to me," said Purpurpurati the Peacock. "They
affect even to scorn my voice! They pretend that it is less resonant
than the cock in the farmyard and less musical than the bird's that
sings at night."

"They'd say anything," said Hoodie the Crow, keeping behind the
Peacock's tail.

Purpurpurati the Peacock mounted higher on the terrace. "I shall walk
before the statue of the beautiful Queen yonder," he said, "and I
shall tell you a story. The reason that I shall tell you is that the
Queen always listens to me. But I would have her think that it is to
you that I am telling the story."

"I'll listen to you," said Hoodie the Crow and he plucked another
feather out of the Peacock's tail.

"When the Queen has been pleased with the sight of my tail, I shall
begin," said Purpurpurati, and he spread out his tail. Hoodie the Crow
plucked out three feathers.

"How pleased she looks," said he.

"Yes, she is always pleased by my appearance," the Peacock said, and
he turned round and walked the other way.

"Did I ever tell you," said Hoodie, hiding the feathers behind a bush.
"Did I ever tell you how the Pigeon went to the Crow to learn the art
of nest-making?"

"I do not know about such things," said Purpurpurati the Peacock.

"I'll tell you and then you'll know," said Hoodie the Crow.

[Illustration]

The Crow is the Master-builder among the Birds and so it was
to the Crow that the Pigeon went to learn the art of
nest-making. "We begin with the sticks," said the Crow. "I
know," said the Pigeon. "First we take one stick and lay it
lengthwise." "I know," said the Pigeon. "Then we put a stick