The Pigeon Tale | Page 5

of him.
It was apparently a narrow passage, and very long, for they walked on
for some time, turning corners now and then, as though it ran past
certain rooms in the house, and Laurie could see that it was lit by
hundreds of fireflies, making it almost as bright as day.
CHAPTER IV.
Suddenly the passageway came to an end, Laurie does not remember
quite how it happened, but there he was up in the dove-cote, high above
the farmyard, with the pigeons cooing and circling about him.
What a beautiful dove-cote it was, ever so much larger than one would
have supposed: indeed it was like a real house.

It did not seem at all strange for the cooing to sound more and more
like words, and presently Laurie found that the pigeons were inviting
him to enter. Inside how beautiful it all was! Velvet carpets lay on the
floor, with the most exquisite patterns traced on them; in each room the
pattern was different, yet always changing, for they were made by the
tiny feet of the pigeons as they moved about. Soft curtains hung at the
doors. They were wonderful feather curtains; instead of having to push
them to one side, all that one had to do was to move towards them, and
they folded into wings. Exquisite music sounded in the rooms, that was
the wind, and it sang of the countries and people it had seen in its
travels. It sang of the waving corn, the ships at sea, the flames leaping
in the fireplace, it crooned a lullaby it had heard a mother singing to her
baby--now the voice of the wind was soft and low, that was when it
remembered the places it had been in, where there was peace and
happiness; now it was loud and harsh, for it had also been in terrible
storms, and wild places, ah! they were wonderful stories. No one was
idle in the dove-cote, some pigeons were kept busy writing the news
that the wind brought, others flew here and there, for they were the
messengers, and must carry the news over the farm.
One pigeon had a ring over his ankle: he was very important indeed,
quite a personage in the dove-cote.
[Illustration: Some pigeons were kept busy writing the news that the
wind brought]
"They are going to dance for you," he said to Laurie, and seven pigeons
stepped into the centre of the room. They began with a faint flutter of
their wings, turning their heads from side to side, gradually growing
swifter in their motion, until their brilliant colors blended and
intermingled in a beautiful prismatic effect. It was like a wonderful
rainbow dance, only the colors changed as the pigeons moved about,
and they opened and closed their wings in such a way, that they seemed
to ripple and flow as water does over the stones.
Their cooing gradually sounded more and more like water gurgling,
and Laurie listened and listened, until he found his head nodding--he
was almost asleep--no, he was not asleep, he opened his eyes wide,

there was the pigeon still, with the ring about his ankle, but the dancing
pigeons were no longer there; the blue sky shone between trunks of
trees, and a real brook sparkled over the stones--somehow or other they
were walking through a wood, the same wood on the edge of the fields,
that they had driven past on their way to the farm: how quiet it was and
how deliciously soft the moss underfoot, while a gentle breeze swayed
the trees overhead.
[Illustration: "Now we will stop at the squirrel house," said the Pigeon.]
"Now we will stop at the squirrel's house," said the pigeon, as they
stopped at an old tree. "Rap-tap-rap" with his beak on a knot-hole in the
trunk, and a fat squirrel opened the door. What a lot of chattering! he
was inviting them to enter. "How delightful," thought Laurie as they
stepped inside, "now I shall see what a squirrel's house is really like."
And indeed it was very different from what he had supposed an old tree
to be like inside; instead, there was a real little staircase, carpeted with
green moss, winding up through the hollow trunk, there were landings
at the different branches, with tiny doors opening off them, and the
branches themselves were all little rooms with knot-holes for windows,
across which green leaves were hung for curtains.
The walls were papered with the most beautiful paper in the world; in
one room it was all blossoms with the most delicate odor; in another
the walls were hung with green leaves; in another room great red and
yellow autumn leaves festooned the walls. "You see this is the inside
out or rather the outside