hers. As she
leaped forward two strong wings sprouted from her shoulders, and before
she knew it she found herself skimming lightly as a bird over the water.
From her throat came sounds of sobbing, which changed as she flew into
the shrill piping of a bird. Soft feathers now covered her body, and a
crest rose above the forehead which had once been so fair. Halcyone was
become a Kingfisher, the first Kingfisher who ever flew lamenting above
the waters of the world.

The sad bird fluttered through the spray straight to the body that was
tossed upon the surf. As her wings touched the wet shoulders, and as her
horny beak sought the dumb lips in an attempt to kiss what was once so
dear, the body of Ceyx began to receive new life. The limbs stirred, a
faint color returned to the cheeks. At the same moment a change like
that which had transformed Halcyone began to pass over her husband. He
too was becoming a Kingfisher. He too felt the thrill of wings upon his
shoulders, wings which were to bear him up and away out of the sea which
had been his death. He too was clad in soft plumage with a kingly crest
upon his kingly head. With a faint cry, half of sorrow for what had
happened, half of joy for the future in which these two loving ones were
at least to be together, Ceyx rose from the surf-swept sand where his
lifeless limbs had lain and went skimming over the waves beside Halcyone
his wife.

So those unhappy mortals became the first kingfishers, happy at last in
being reunited. So we see them still, flying up and down over the waters
of the world, royal forms with royal crests upon their heads.

They built their nest of the bones of fish, a stout and well-joined
basket which floated on the waves as safely as any little boat. And
while their children, the baby Halcyons, lay in this rocking cradle, for
seven days in the heart of winter, no storms ever troubled the ocean
and mariners could set out upon their voyages without fear.

For while his little grandchildren rocked in their basket, the good King
AEolus, pitying the sorrows of his daughter Halcyone, was always
especially careful to chain up in prison those wicked brothers the
Winds, so that they could do no mischief of any kind.

And that is why a halcyon time has come to mean a season of peace and
safety.

THE FORGETFUL KINGFISHER

In these days the Kingfisher is a sad and solitary bird, caring not to
venture far from the water where she finds her food. Up