Wonder-Box Tales | Page 8

chirping up to the
Lark, and tried to comfort him.
"I have heard all that the Fairy said to you," he observed, "and I really
do not see that it need make you unhappy. I have known you some time,
and have never seen you fight or look out of temper; therefore I will
spread a report that you are a very good-tempered bird, and that you are
looking out for a wife."
The Lark upon this thanked the Grasshopper warmly.
"At the same time," remarked the Grasshopper, "I should be glad if you
could tell me what is the use of those claws, because the question might
be asked me, and I should not know what to answer."
"Grasshopper," replied the Lark, "I cannot imagine what they are
for--that is the real truth."
"Well," said the kind Grasshopper, "perhaps time will show."
So he went away, and the Lark, delighted with his promise to speak
well of him, flew up into the air, and the higher he went the sweeter and
the louder he sang. He was so happy, and he poured forth such
delightful notes, so clear and thrilling, that the little ants who were

carrying grains to their burrow stopped and put down their burdens to
listen; and the doves ceased cooing, and the little field-mice came and
sat in the openings of their holes; and the Fairy, who had just begun to
doze, woke up delighted; and a pretty brown Lark, who had been sitting
under some great foxglove leaves, peeped out and exclaimed, "I never
heard such a beautiful song in my life--never!"
"It was sung by my friend, the Skylark," said the Grasshopper, who just
then happened to be on a leaf near her. "He is a very good-tempered
bird, and he wants a wife."
"Hush!" said the pretty brown Lark. "I want to hear the end of that
wonderful song."
For just then the Skylark, far up in the heaven, burst forth again, and
sang better than ever--so well, indeed, that every creature in the field
sat still to listen; and the little brown Lark under the foxglove leaves
held her breath, for she was afraid of losing a single note.
"Well done, my friend!" exclaimed the Grasshopper, when at length he
came down panting, and with tired wings; and then he told him how
much his friend the brown Lark, who lived by the foxglove, had been
pleased with his song, and he took the poor Skylark to see her.
The Skylark walked as carefully as he could, that she might not see his
feet; and he thought he had never seen such a pretty bird in his life. But
when she told him how much she loved music, he sprang up again into
the blue sky as if he was not at all tired, and sang anew, clearer and
sweeter than before. He was so glad to think that he could please her.
He sang several songs, and the Grasshopper did not fail to praise him,
and say what a cheerful, kind bird he was. The consequence was, that
when he asked the brown Lark to overlook his spurs and be his wife,
she said:
"I will see about it, for I do not mind your spurs particularly."
"I am very glad of that," said the Skylark. "I was afraid you would

disapprove of them."
"Not at all," she replied. "On the contrary, now I think of it, I should
not have liked you to have short claws like other birds; but I cannot
exactly say why, for they seem to be of no use in particular."
This was very good news for the Skylark, and he sang such delightful
songs in consequence, that he very soon won his wife; and they built a
delightful little nest in the grass, which made him so happy that he
almost forgot to be sorry about his long spurs.
The Fairy, meanwhile, flew about from field to field, and I am sorry to
say that she seldom went anywhere without saying something unkind
or ill-natured; for, as I told you before, she was very hasty, and had a
sad habit of judging her neighbors.
She had been several days wandering about in search of adventures,
when one afternoon she came back to the old oak-tree, because she
wanted a new pair of shoes, and there were none to be had so pretty as
those made of the yellow snapdragon flower in the hedge hard by.
While she was fitting on her shoes, she saw the Lark's friend.
[Illustration: "WHILE SHE WAS FITTING ON HER SHOES, SHE
SAW THE LARK'S FRIEND."]
"How do you do, Grasshopper?" asked the Fairy.
"Thank you, I am very well and very happy," said the Grasshopper;
"people are always so kind to