The Goat and Her Kid | Page 3

wooden rake to make
hay with. They saw the boys all running very eagerly after something
in the grass, and they ran directly towards them to see what it was.
"O," cried Charles, "it is a poor little bird that cannot fly!"
"Do not hurt it," cried Fanny. "Pray, Charley, ask them not to hurt it!"
The nestling had been obliged to hop from beneath his little morsel of
hay, and had now crept underneath a haycock.
"We did not mean to hurt it, Miss," said one of the boys; "we only
wanted to catch it, and we could not. But I am afraid one of us trod
upon it somehow by accident, when it was under the bit of hay there;
and, perhaps, it has been hurt somewhere. I'm very sorry if it is hurt."
As he said this, the boys all went away; and the one who had spoken
really did look sorry.
"I wonder where the little fellow is hiding," said Charles. "If he has
been hurt, we had better look for him, to see if we can help him to find
his nest."
"Yes, let us look for him," said Fanny; and they both went to work
directly to remove the hay and search underneath the haycock,--Sarah,
their maid, helping them.
They were not long in finding the nestling. He was crouching close to
the ground, with one bright little round black eye looking up at them,
and was panting as if his little heart would break.
"We will not hurt you, poor little thing!" cried Fanny, as her brother
stooped down and took him up softly in both hands. The nestling's
breast panted quicker than ever, and every now and then he gave a
flutter, when Charles tried to look at him to see where he was hurt. At

last, when he found how gently he was held, and that all they did to
him was to smooth down the feathers of his back and wings, he began
to be quiet, and to pant less, and gradually to cease making any
fluttering.
"Now then," said Charles, "he is quiet, and we may examine him." So
he slowly began to open his hands, and Fanny began to blow the little
bird's feathers with her mouth close down to him, to blow them on one
side that they might see where he was hurt. But no bruise or scratch
could be found. Presently, however, Charles said, "O, I see what has
happened. The boys in running after him have trod upon his feet, and
bruised them dreadfully. They are all red, and swelled, and crooked,
and I do not believe they can ever get properly well again. His little
claws have been twisted and broken. He will never be able to hop about
any more; and I am sure he can never perch upon a twig. He will have
nothing to hold fast with. What is to become of him?"
Fanny began to cry as she heard all this, and looked at the nestling's
bruised feet, and saw how badly they were injured. "He will die," said
she, "if we let him go: he will never be able to get up to his nest, nor
hop about to find his food; and he will be starved. Do, Charley, let us
take him home with us. If he gets well enough to hop and fly, we will
give him his liberty; and if not, let us take care of him."
Accordingly, home they all went, carrying the bird, gently wrapped up
in a white handkerchief, and held loosely in Fanny's double hands, so
as not to press him. When they arrived they suddenly recollected that
they had no cage for him, and did not know where to put him. Not
knowing what to do, as their papa and mamma happened both to be out,
Charles went into the yard to ask advice. To his great joy, Timothy, the
coachman, told him there was an old wire lantern hanging up in the
stable, which he might have. The old lantern was brought, and some
hay and grass were laid at the bottom, and then Timothy said he knew
of a chaffinch's nest which had been built last year in a pear-tree that
grew up one side of the stable wall, and they might get it down, and put
this little lame fellow into it.
"But then," said Fanny, "what will the chaffinches do without a nest!"

"O, you don't understand," said Charles. "It is an empty nest, made last
year. It has no owners now."
[Illustration]
"Do get it, then, Timothy, please," cried Fanny.
Away went Timothy for the old chaffinch's nest, and Charles with him,
while Fanny remained with the nestling, standing beside the wire
lantern. They soon came back