The Magic Speech Flower | Page 2

the Crow, sitting on the top of the tall maple, felt that on
such a morning as this he, too, must sing. So he opened his beak and
croaked, "Caw, caw, caw, caw." What he meant to say was, "Corn, corn,
corn, corn." Sam, the hired man, heard him and came out of the barn
door with his gun. Old Ka-ka-go spread his black wings and flapped off
to the woods on the side of the mountain.
Far up in the blue sky Kee-you the Red-shouldered Hawk wheeled
slowly about in great circles. When he saw Sam with his gun, he
screamed, "Kee-you, kee-you, kee-you," over and over.
That was a poor song, but a good war cry; It sent every singer plunging
to cover. O-pee-chee the Robin hid himself among the thick branches
of the apple tree. Kil-loo the Song Sparrow hopped into the thickest
part of the lilac bush. Zeet the Lark and Bob Lincoln squatted in the
thick grass. Not a bird note was to be heard.
But Ka-be-yun the West Wind was not afraid of the warrior hawk. He
breathed softly among the branches of the trees and set every little leaf
quivering and whispering. Then he ran across the meadows and the
wheat fields. As he sped along, great waves like those of the sea rolled
in wide sweeps across the meadow and through the tall wheat.
To little Luke it seemed as if the leaves and grass and wheat all
whispered, "Come away. Come and play." Just then a great bumblebee
flew by and now the call was clear. "Come away, come away! Follow,
follow, follow me!"
The boy jumped up and ran down the path into the garden. There he
met Old Klaws the House Cat, with a little brown baby rabbit in his
mouth. "You wicked old cat," said little Luke, "drop it, drop it, I say."
But Old Klaws only growled and gripped the little rabbit tighter. Little
Luke seized the old cat by the back of the neck and choked him till he

let go. The little brown rabbit looked up at him with his big round eyes,
as much as to say, "Thank you, little boy, thank you." Then he hopped
off into the thicket of berry bushes, where Old Klaws could not catch
him again.
Little Luke went on down the path, through the garden gate, and into
the meadow beyond. All at once Bob Lincoln sprang up out of the grass
right before his feet.
Little Luke thought he would find Bob Lincoln's nest. So he got down
upon his knees and began to look about in the grass very carefully. He
did not find the nest, but he did find a fine cluster of ripe, wild
strawberries. He forgot all about the nest and began to pick and eat the
sweet berries. So he ate and ate till his lips and fingers were red as red
wine and smelled strongly of ripe strawberries.
Suddenly, as he put out his hand for another cluster, up sprang a black
and brown and yellow bird. That was Mrs. Bob Lincoln. Little Luke
put aside the grass and there was the nest. It was so cunningly hidden
that he could never have found it by looking for it.
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Lincoln were greatly frightened. They fluttered and
quivered about, and talked to each other, and scolded at the boy. Little
Luke could not understand what they said, but part of it sounded like,
"Let it be! Don't touch, don't touch! Go away, please, p-l-e-a-s-e, go
away." So he got up and said, "All right, don't be afraid. I'll not take
your eggs, I'll go right away." And so he did.
When he had gone two or three rods, Mrs. Bob Lincoln fluttered down
to her nest and settled herself quietly over her eggs. But Mr. Bob flew
to a tall weed in front of little Luke. There he sat and swung and
teetered and sang his merriest song. To the little boy it seemed as if he
was trying to say, "Thank you, thank you, little boy."
There was an old apple tree standing near the meadow fence. On one of
its branches was the nest of O-pee-chee the Robin. Both Mr. and Mrs.
O-pee-chee had gone away to pick worms from the soft, fresh earth in
the garden.

As little Luke drew near to the tree, he saw Mee-ko the Red Squirrel
crouching by the side of the nest with a blue egg in his front paws. He
had not yet broken the shell when he saw little Luke. At first he thought
he would run away. But he wanted that egg; so he squatted very quietly
where he was and hoped the little boy would not see him.