than Whitebird's,
with two wise little twinkling eyes.

"Oho!" said Whitebird to himself, "it is Mother Magpie up to her old
tricks, hiding, hiding. Maybe she has a treasure hidden there. I will
watch, and perhaps I shall find out something worth knowing."

Mother Magpie was the wisest and the slyest of all the birds, and it was
always worth while, as Whitebird knew, to take lessons of her. So he sat
perfectly still until she came cautiously back carrying something in her
beak. It was round and white and glinted like moonlight. Whitebird's
eyes stuck out greedily.

"It is a piece of silver!" he thought, but he sat perfectly still until
the Magpie had stowed the coin safely in the hollow tree and had hopped
away as if upon an unfinished errand. "Aha! there is more then. I will
watch to see what comes next," said Whitebird. And he waited.

Sure enough. In a little while the Magpie returned, this time bringing
something which glowed yellow like sunlight.

"It is a piece of gold!" gasped Whitebird, and his eyes bulged out like
those of lobsters, he was so jealous of her luck. But he silently
watched her disappear into her tree-cupboard and then hastily depart as
before toward the mountain. "What comes next?" muttered Whitebird to
himself. "I am dying to peep into that hole. I cannot wait much longer."

Then, after a while, a third time came back the Magpie to the dead tree.
And lo, what she carried in her beak twinkled and trembled and shone in
many colors, like a drop of dew on a velvet flower-cheek. When
Whitebird saw this sight, he nearly tumbled off his perch with
excitement.

"It is a diamond!" he cried aloud; "oh, it is a real diamond!"

At this sudden noise from the rose-bush Mother Magpie's nerves were so
shocked that she dropped the diamond helter-skelter into the hole. And
in a moment she fell in after it, out of sight. She hoped that no one
had seen her, but little Whitebird knew the place. He hopped after her
and, perching on the edge of the hole, peered down into the hollow tree.
And there he saw a great heap of silver and gold and precious stones,
which Mother Magpie was trying to cover with her wings.

"Oh, what a treasure! What a treasure!" he piped greedily. "Mother
Magpie, you must tell me where you found it, that I may go and get some
for myself."

But Mother Magpie refused to tell.

"Oho!" chirped Whitebird, angrily; "we shall see about that! Then I will
call in the fierce birds, Robber Haw