The Tale of Bobby Bobolink

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Tale of Bobby Bobolink, by Arthur Scott Bailey

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Title: The Tale of Bobby Bobolink Tuck-me-In Tales
Author: Arthur Scott Bailey
Release Date: May 9, 2007 [EBook #21412]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration: "You Were Mistaken," Said Mrs. Bobolink. Frontispiece--(Page 35)]

SLEEPY-TIME TALES (Trademark Registered)
THE TALE OF BOBBY BOBOLINK
BY ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY
[Illustration]
GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY GROSSET & DUNLAP

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I SOMEBODY IS EXPECTED 1 II THE LATEST ARRIVAL 6 III GREETINGS 11 IV SINGING FOR SOME ONE 16 V AN INVITATION 21 VI MRS. BOBOLINK CONSENTS 26 VII PASSING THE TEST 31 VIII THE HOUSE IN THE MEADOW 37 IX JOHNNIE GREEN INTRUDES 42 X FOOLING JOHNNIE GREEN 47 XI BOBBY'S NAMES 51 XII MR. CROW IS DISAGREEABLE 55 XIII MR. CATBIRD'S TRICK 60 XIV FRIGHTENING MRS. BOBOLINK 64 XV HAYING TIME 70 XVI MR. FROG IS AMUSED 75 XVII TURNING THE TABLES 81 XVIII TIMOTHY TURTLE'S COMPLAINT 86 XIX BOBBY'S MISTAKE 91 XX A HERMIT'S ADVICE 96 XXI HOW TO TAKE BAD NEWS 101 XXII A NOISY QUARREL 106 XXIII SLEEPY BENJAMIN BAT 111

THE TALE OF BOBBY BOBOLINK

I
SOMEBODY IS EXPECTED
ON May Day the feathered folk in Pleasant Valley began to stop, look and listen. They were expecting somebody.
"Have you seen him?" Rusty Wren asked Jolly Robin.
Jolly Robin said that he hadn't; but he added that he was on the lookout.
"Have you heard his song?" little Mr. Chippy inquired eagerly of Mr. Blackbird.
"No!" that dusky rascal replied. "Not yet! Maybe he isn't coming here this summer." Mr. Blackbird liked to tease little Mr. Chippy. And generally when he tried to, he succeeded.
"Oh! Don't say that!" Mr. Chippy exclaimed. "If I couldn't hear his gay voice I shouldn't care to spend a summer here myself."
Over the meadow, beyond the stone wall where Mr. Chippy made his home in a wild grapevine, Mr. Meadowlark flew to the swampy place where the rushes grew, just to find a Red-winged Blackbird that he knew, in order to learn whether he had seen or heard the friend everybody was watching for.
Perched upon a swaying last year's cattail, Mr. Red-winged Blackbird shook his head in reply. And he said that no doubt it would be a week before the looked-for arrival. "The season's a bit backward," Mr. Red-winged Blackbird remarked. "So I don't expect to set eyes on him to-day--though I have known him to get here as early as May Day."
Mr. Meadowlark confessed that he was disappointed.
"It would be a much gayer May Day," he said, "if his rollicking song rang over the meadow."
"What's the matter with your own singing?" Mr. Red-winged Blackbird asked him--meaning that in his opinion Mr. Meadowlark had no reason to be ashamed of his own voice.
"My song is not like his," Mr. Meadowlark answered. And he sighed as he spoke. "To be sure, some people are kind enough to say that my singing is unusually sweet. But you know yourself that there isn't a songster anywhere that can carol so joyfully as Bobby Bobolink."
Mr. Red-winged Blackbird did not dispute that statement. How could he, when the birds were all waiting so eagerly to hear Bobby Bobolink's voice?
"He has a way"--Mr. Meadowlark went on--"a way of making almost any summer's day a gay holiday. He is just bubbling over with happiness; and he can't seem to get his notes out fast enough."
"Yes!" Mr. Red-winged Blackbird chimed in. "He's a cheerful, happy-go-lucky chap. And he wears gay clothes, too."
"What's the matter with your own clothes?" Mr. Meadowlark inquired--meaning that in his opinion Mr. Red-winged Blackbird's black suit, with the shoulders scarlet and buff, was about as striking as anybody could want.
Mr. Red-winged Blackbird was pleased. Anybody could see that. He bowed and spread his wings and tail, and uttered his well-known call, "Conk-err-ee!" before he made any reply.
"People often compliment me on my taste in colors," he said at last. "And for year-round wear I do think my suit is about as good as anybody could ask for. But you know yourself that during the first half of the summer Bobby Bobolink makes a cheerful sight, when his black and white and buff back flashes above the meadow."
And Mr. Meadowlark couldn't deny it; for he knew that it was true.

II
THE LATEST ARRIVAL
BOBBY BOBOLINK did not reach Pleasant Valley in time to spend May Day with his old friends of the summer before. And although everybody was disappointed not to see