The Tale of Jolly Robin Read online

  But old Mr. Crow did not laugh.

  "There you go, making a noise again!" he said crossly. "A person's notsafe in your company." And he hurried off across the meadow. Mr. Crowwas always very nervous when he was near the farmhouse.

  But Jolly Robin stayed right there until the hired-man walked back tothe barn. He saw then that what Mr. Crow had told him was really so.And he never stopped laughing until long after sunset.

  XXI

  A DOLEFUL DITTY

  Jolly Robin often complained about the wailing of WillieWhip-poor-will. Willie lived in the woods, which were not far from theorchard. And it was annoying to Jolly to hear his call,"_Whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will_," repeated over and over again forsome two hours after Jolly's bed-time. Neither did Jolly Robin enjoybeing awakened by that same sound an hour or two before he wanted toget up in the morning. And what was still worse, on moonlight nightsWillie sometimes sang his favorite song from sunset to sunrise.

  "What a doleful ditty!" said Jolly Robin. "I must see this fellow andtell him that he ought to change his tune." But the trouble was thatJolly Robin did not like to roam about at night. He was always toosleepy to do that. And in the daytime Willie Whip-poor-will wassilent, resting or sleeping upon the ground in the woods.

  But a day came at last when Jolly Robin stumbled upon WillieWhip-poor-will, sound asleep where he lived. And Jolly lost no time inwaking him up.

  "I've been wanting to speak to you for some time," he told the drowsyfellow.

  "What's the matter?" Willie Whip-poor-will asked, with a startledstare. "Are the woods on fire?"

  "No!" said Jolly Robin. "I want to talk with you--that's all." And hewas as cheerful as anyone could have wished.

  But Willie Whip-poor-will looked very cross.

  "This is a queer time to make a call!" he grumbled. "I don't like tobe disturbed in broad daylight. I supposed everybody knew thatmidnight is the proper time for a visit."

  "But I'm always asleep then," Jolly Robin objected, "unless it's amoonlight night and you happen to be singing on my side of thewoods."

  Willie Whip-poor-will looked almost pleasant when Jolly said that.

  "So you stay awake to hear me!" he exclaimed. "I see you like mysinging."

  Jolly Robin laughed, because Willie had made such a funny mistake.

  "You're wrong!" he said. "In fact, I've been wanting to talk with youabout that very thing. I want you to change your song, which is a veryannoying one. It's altogether too disagreeable. I'll teach you my'_Cheerily-cheerup_' song. You'll like it much better, I think. AndI'm sure all your neighbors will.... Why not learn the new song rightnow?" Jolly asked.

  But Willie Whip-poor-will made no answer. Looking at him more closely,Jolly Robin was amazed to see that he was sound asleep.

  "Here, wake up!" Jolly cried, as he nudged Willie under a wing.

  Again Willie Whip-poor-will sprang up with a bewildered expression.

  "Hullo!" he said. "What's the trouble? Did a tree fall?"

  "You went to sleep while I was talking to you," Jolly Robinexplained.

  "Oh!" said Willie Whip-poor-will. "That doesn't matter. You must beused to that." And the words were scarcely out of his mouth before hehad fallen asleep again.

  Jolly Robin looked at him in a puzzled way. He didn't see how he couldteach Willie his "_Cheerily-cheerup_" song unless he could keep himawake. But he thought he ought to try; so he gave Willie a sharp tweakwith his bill.

  "Did you hear what I said about your singing?" he shouted right inWillie's ear.

  Willie Whip-poor-will only murmured sleepily:

  "It's rheumatism. I just felt a twinge of it."

  He had no idea what Jolly Robin was talking about.

  XXII

  SHOCKING MANNERS

  Jolly Robin tried his best to rouse Willie Whip-poor-will out of hisdaytime nap. But he had to admit to himself at last that his effortswere in vain. It was plain that Willie was too sleepy to understandwhat was said to him. And as for his learning a new song when he wasin that condition, that was entirely out of the question.

  "I'll have to wait till sunset," Jolly Robin sighed at last. "That'sthe time that Willie always wakes up and begins to sing.... I'll comeback here late this afternoon."

  So he left the woods; and he was busy every moment all the rest ofthe day.

  Shortly before sunset Jolly Robin went back to the place in the woodswhere he had left Willie Whip-poor-will sleeping. But Willie was nolonger there. He had left only a few minutes before Jolly's arrival.And as Jolly sat on a low branch of a tree and looked all around, justas the sun dropped behind the mountain, a voice began singing fromsome point deeper in the woods. "_Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will!_"That was the way the song went.

  "There's Willie now!" Jolly Robin exclaimed. And he flew off at onceto find his night-prowling friend. He knew that Willie Whip-poor-willwas some distance away, because he couldn't hear the low "_chuck!_"with which Willie always began his song, as a sort of warning that hewas going to sing, and that nobody could stop him.

  Jolly had a good deal of trouble finding the singer, because WillieWhip-poor-will didn't stay in one place. Between his bursts of song hecoursed about hunting for insects, which he caught as he flew. So itwas not surprising that Jolly did not come upon him until it had grownalmost dark in the woods.

  "Hullo!" said Willie as soon as he saw Jolly Robin. "I haven't seenyou for a long time."

  Jolly Robin laughed merrily.

  "Don't you remember my calling on you about noon to-day?" he asked.

  "You must be mistaken," Willie Whip-poor-will replied. "I've beenasleep since sunrise--until a little while ago. And nobody came to seeme."

  "You've forgotten," said Jolly. "But it's no matter. I can talk to younow just as well. I want to speak to you about your singing." Jollypaused then; and he yawned widely, for it was his bed-time that verymoment.

  "Talk fast, please!" said Willie Whip-poor-will. "I haven't finishedmy breakfast yet. And I'm pretty hungry."

  It seemed queer, to Jolly Robin, that anyone should be eating hisbreakfast right after sunset. And he was about to say something aboutthe matter. But just as he opened his mouth to speak he yawned again.And then, without realizing what he was doing, he tucked his headunder his wing and fell asleep on the limb of the cedar tree where hewas sitting.

  Willie Whip-poor-will looked at him in astonishment.

  "What shocking manners!" he exclaimed. "He went to sleep while we weretalking. But I suppose he knows no better."

  Willie would have liked to know what Jolly Robin was going to sayabout his singing. But he was so hungry that he left Jolly asleep uponhis perch and hurried off to look for more insects.

  Since it was a moonlight night, Willie Whip-poor-will spent all thetime until sunrise in hunting for food. Now and then he stopped torest and sing his queer song, which Jolly Robin did not like.

  But Jolly Robin slept so soundly that for once Willie's singing neverdisturbed him at all.

  XXIII

  A COLD GREETING

  When Jolly Robin awoke a little before dawn, after his night in thewoods, he did not know at first where he was.

  Now, it happened that just as he was awaking in the cedar tree, WillieWhip-poor-will was going to sleep on the ground right beneath him. Sowhen Jolly at last looked down and spied his friend, he rememberedwhat had happened.

  "My goodness!" he said with a nervous laugh. "I fell asleep here lastnight! And I wonder what my wife will say when I get home." He wouldhave liked to try to rouse Willie Whip-poor-will and speak to himabout learning the new song. But he was so uneasy on account of whathis wife might say about his having stayed away from home all nightthat he flew away as fast as he could go.

  It was exactly as he had feared. When he reached his house in theorchard his wife greeted him quite coldly. In fact, she hardly spoketo him at all. And when Jolly told her, with a good many chuckles,what a joke he had played on himself--falling asleep as he had, whilemaking a call upon Willie
Whip-poor-will--she did not even smile.

  "I should think you would be ashamed of yourself," she told him."Willie Whip-poor-will is a good-for-nothing rascal. Everybody talksabout the way he prowls through the woods all night and seldom goes tobed before morning. And his wife is no better than he is. They're tooshiftless even to build themselves a nest. Mrs. Whip-poor-will leavesher eggs on the ground. And that's enough to know about _her_.

  "If you like to spend your time with such trash you'd better go overto the woods and live," Mrs. Robin said. And then she turned her backon her husband and set to work to clean her nest.

  Jolly and his wife happened to have five small children at the time.They were so young that they had never left home, not having learnedto fly. And they were all clamoring for their breakfast.

  Thinking to please his wife, Jolly Robin went off and began gatheringangleworms for the youngsters. But when he brought them home his wifetold him that he had better eat them himself.

  "I am quite able to feed my own children without any help from aperson who doesn't come home until after daybreak," she said.

  And she acted like that for two whole days. Naturally, Jolly Robinfelt very uncomfortable during that time. And ever afterward he tookgood care to have nothing to do with Willie Whip-poor-will.

  He did wish, however, that Willie would learn a new song. For Jollydisliked more than ever to hear that "_Whip-poor-will!Whip-poor-will!_" repeated over and over again. It always reminded himof the time he made his wife angry by spending the night away fromhome.

  THE END

 
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