of triumph and
cried, "Where are you now, poor little Wren? Can you hear me at all,
down below there?"

But what was his amazement to hear the same little voice above his head
shrilling, "Here I am, here I am, Sir Eagle. Look up and see me, look!"
And there, sure enough, he was fluttering above the Eagle's head. "And
now, since I have mounted so much higher than you, will you agree that I
have won?"

"Yes, you have won, little Wren. Let us descend together, for I am weary
enough," cried the Eagle, much mortified; and down he swooped, on heavy,
discouraged wings.

"Yes, let us descend together," murmured the Wren, once more perching
comfortably on the Eagle's head. And so down he rode on this convenient
elevator, which was the first one invented in this world.

When the Eagle nearly reached the ground, the other birds set up a cry
of greeting.

"Hail, King Eagle!" they sang. "How high you flew! How near the sun! Did
he not scorch your Majesty's feathers? Hail, mighty king!" and they made
a deafening chorus. But the Eagle stopped them.

"The Wren is your king, not I," he said. "He mounted higher than I did."

"The Wren? Ha-ha! The _Wren_! We can't believe that The Wren flew
higher than you? No, no!" they all shouted. But just then the Eagle
lighted on a tree, and from the top of his head hopped the little Wren,
cocking his head and ruffling himself proudly.

"Yes, I mounted higher than he," he cried, "for I was perched on his
head all the while, ha-ha! And now, therefore, I am king, small though I
be."

Now the Eagle was very angry when he saw the trick that had been played
upon him, and he swooped upon the sly Wren to punish him. But the Wren
screamed, "Remember, remember your promise never to injure me or mine!"
Then the Eagle stopped, for he was a noble bird and never forgot a
promise. He folded his wings and turned away in disgust.

"Be king, then, O cheat and trickster!" he said.

"Cheat and trickster!" echoed the other birds. "We will have no such
fellow for our king. Cheat and trickster he is, and he shall be
punished. You shall be king, brave Eagle, for without your strength he
could never have flown so high. It is you whom we want for our
protector and lawmaker, not this sly fellow no bigger than a bean."

So the Eagle became their king, after all; and a noble bird he is, as
you must understand, or he would never have been chosen to guard our
nation's coat of arms. And besides this you may see his