The Tale of Jolly Robin - Arthur Scott Bailey (small books to read txt) 📗
- Author: Arthur Scott Bailey
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“They’ve left for parts unknown,” old Mr. Crow explained. “I saw them when they started. And when I asked your cousin where they were going, he said that they didn’t know, but they were hoping to find some peaceful neighborhood where they had no relations.”
“That’s strange!” Jolly Robin exclaimed. “We are very fond of each other—my cousin and I. By the way,” he added, “did you happen to notice what sort of waistcoat he was wearing?”
Mr. Crow said he had noticed; and that it was a light-colored one with dark spots.
“Dear me!” said Jolly Robin. “I was hoping he had put on a red one. But since he moved in such a hurry, perhaps he hadn’t time to change.”
Whether that was the case, Jolly Robin never learned. For he never saw his cousin the Hermit again.
The feathered folk in Pleasant Valley were all aflutter. They had heard a strange tale—the oddest tale, almost, that had ever been told in their neighborhood.
It was Jolly Robin who had started the story. And since he was not in the habit of playing jokes on people, everybody believed what he said—at least, everybody except Jasper Jay. He declared from the first that Jolly Robin’s tale was a hoax.
“I claim that there’s not a word of truth in it!” Jasper Jay said.
Now, there was a reason why Jasper spoke in that disagreeable way. He didn’t 80 want the story to be true. And, somehow, he felt that if he said it was a hoax, it would really prove to be one.
“I know well enough,” said Jasper, “that there’s no golden bird in Pleasant Valley—and nowhere else, either!”
You see, Jolly Robin had hurried to the woods one day and told everyone he met that a wonderful golden bird had come to Pleasant Valley.
“He’s not just yellow, like a goldfinch. He’s solid gold all over, from the tip of his bill to the tip of his tail. Even his feet are golden. And he glistens in the sunshine as if he were afire!” That was the way Jolly Robin described the marvellous newcomer. “He’s the handsomest bird that ever was seen,” he added.
Perhaps Jasper Jay was jealous. You know he was a great dandy, being very proud of his blue suit, which was really 81 quite beautiful. Anyhow, Jasper Jay began to sulk as soon as he heard the news.
“Where is this magnificent person?” he asked Jolly Robin with a sneer. “Do let me see him! And if he wants to fight, I’ll soon spoil his finery for him. He won’t look so elegant after I’ve pulled out his tail-feathers.”
But Jolly Robin wouldn’t tell anybody where he had seen the wonderful bird. He said the golden bird was three times as big as Jasper Jay. And he didn’t want Jasper to get hurt, even if he was so disagreeable.
Anyone can see, just from that, that Jolly Robin was very kind.
“You’d better be careful, or I’ll fight you, too!” Jasper warned him.
But Jolly was not afraid. He knew that Jasper was something of a braggart and a bully. He had chased Jasper once. And 82 he thought he could do it again, if he had to.
“My cousin will tell me where to find this yellow fellow,” said Jasper Jay at last. “There’s not much that happens in Pleasant Valley that my cousin doesn’t know about.” So he flew off to find old Mr. Crow—for he was the cousin of whom Jasper was speaking.
Jasper found Mr. Crow in his favorite tree in the pine woods. And sure enough! the old gentleman seemed to know all about the golden bird. But like Jolly Robin, he refused to say where he had seen him. To tell the truth, Mr. Crow had never set eyes on the strange bird. But he did not like to admit it. “He’s a great credit to the neighborhood,” said old Mr. Crow. “And you’d better let him alone, if you should happen to find him, because he’s solid gold, you know. And if you flew 83 at him and tried to peck him, just as likely as not you’d break your bill on him, he’s so hard.”
Old Mr. Crow’s warning, however, had no effect at all upon Jasper Jay.
“I’m going to search every corner in the valley until I find this fop. And I’ll teach him that he’d better get out of our neighborhood with his fine airs.”
When he heard that, old Mr. Crow shook his head.
“You’re going to have trouble!” he told Jasper. And then he hurried away to tell Jolly Robin that he ought to advise the golden bird to leave Pleasant Valley.
But Jolly Robin said he had not spoken with the stranger. And never having talked with a golden bird, he felt a bit shy about saying anything to him.
“Then there’ll be a terrible fight, I’m afraid,” said Mr. Crow. 84
“I’m afraid so,” Jolly Robin agreed. And strange as it may seem, they both said that if there was going to be a fight they didn’t want to miss seeing it.
Jasper Jay spent several days looking for the great golden bird that Jolly Robin had described. But Jasper couldn’t find the wonderful creature anywhere. And he was wondering if it wasn’t just a hoax after all, as he had claimed. He had almost decided to give up his search, when he chanced to meet Bennie Barn-Swallow one day. Jasper happened to mention that he was on the lookout for Jolly Robin’s strange bird; and Bennie Barn-Swallow said quickly:
“Do you mean the bird of gold?”
“The bird of brass, I should say!” 86 Jasper replied, with his nose in the air. “You haven’t seen him, have you?”
“Why, yes!” said Bennie. “He stays right near my house.”
Of course, Jasper Jay knew that Bennie lived in a mud house, under the eaves of Farmer Green’s barn. So he cried at once: “Then my search is ended! I’ll come over to the barn this afternoon and fight the upstart.”
The news spread quickly—the news of the fight that was going to take place at Farmer Green’s barn. And as soon as he heard it, Jolly Robin went straight to the barn and asked the golden bird if he wouldn’t leave Pleasant Valley at once.
But the great, gorgeous creature paid no attention to Jolly Robin’s request. Indeed, he seemed not to hear his words at all—though Jolly Robin thought the stranger was just pretending. 87
Jolly had to sing a good many songs that day to keep up his spirits. Somehow, he felt that it was all his fault that there was going to be a fight.
“I wish I hadn’t told anyone about the golden bird,” he said. “Maybe he would have flown away before Jasper Jay heard of his being here.”
Well, Jasper invited everybody to come to the barn late in the afternoon to see him whip the golden bird and pull out his tail-feathers.
“There’s going to be some fun,” said Jasper Jay. “Nobody ought to miss it.”
So, as the afternoon waned, the feathered folk began to gather in the orchard. Jolly Robin was there, and his wife, and old Mr. Crow, Rusty Wren, Bobbie Bobolink, Miss Kitty Catbird, and a good many others as well. There was a good deal of noise, for everyone was chattering. And 88 Jasper Jay made almost as great a din as all his friends together. He boasted in a loud voice that he was going to give the golden bird a terrible beating. And he was so pleased with himself that some of his companions whispered to one another that it might be a good thing if the golden bird gave Jasper a sound whipping.
At last Jasper Jay called out that he was ready. And then he started for Farmer Green’s barn, while the eager crew followed close behind him. They all alighted on the ridge of the barn. And like Jasper Jay, they sat there for a short time and stared at the golden bird, who shimmered like fire in the slanting rays of the setting sun.
Jolly Robin and Bennie Barn-Swallow had seen him before; so they weren’t surprised. But all the others gazed at him in amazement. 89
Now, to Jasper Jay the golden bird looked enormous. He was perched high up on a rod which rose above the roof. And he seemed very proud and disdainful. In fact, he paid no attention at all to the curious flock that watched him.
For a little while nobody said a word. And Jasper Jay was the first to speak.
“Fiddlesticks!” he cried. “This is nothing but a barnyard fowl. He’s a rooster—that’s what he is!”
All the feathered folk on the roof of Farmer Green’s barn saw at once that Jasper Jay had told the truth. The golden bird was a rooster, just as Jasper had said. But it seemed strange to them that a rooster should sit on so high a perch.
“It looks to me,” said old Mr. Crow, “it looks to me as if he had flown up here and lighted on that rod and then was afraid to fly down again.”
“I’ll knock him off!” cried Jasper Jay. And he made ready to swoop at the stranger.
“I wouldn’t do that!” said Jolly Robin. 91
“No!” Jasper Jay replied. “I know you wouldn’t. You’d be afraid to do such a thing.”
“It’s not that,” Jolly Robin told him, “though he is ten times my size. This is what I mean: He’s a peaceable fellow. And though I will admit that he seems a little too proud, he hasn’t harmed anybody. So why should anybody harm him?”
“He’s a barnyard fowl and he belongs on the ground,” Jasper Jay declared. “If we let him stay up here in the air there’s no knowing what Farmer Green’s fowls will do. All his hens and roosters—and he has a hundred of ’em—may take to flying about where they don’t belong. This golden gentleman is setting them a bad example. And it is my duty to teach him a lesson.”
Now, the real reason why Jasper wanted 92 to knock the golden rooster off his high perch was because he was so handsome. Jasper’s fine blue suit looked quite dull beside the golden dress of the stranger. And that was more than Jasper could stand.
“Here I go!” Jasper cried. And he left his friends and flew straight at the golden fowl.
Jasper struck the rooster such a hard blow that he spun around on his perch twice. But he didn’t lose his balance. And he never said a single word.
“I’ll pull out his tail-feathers this time!” Jasper squawked, as he darted at the stranger again. But Jasper had no luck at all. Though he pecked viciously at the tail of the golden rooster, he succeeded only in hurting his own bill.
Several times Jasper tried. But not one tail-feather came away. And some of 93 the onlookers began to smile. Old Mr. Crow even guffawed aloud. But Jasper Jay pretended not to hear him.
“Don’t you think we’d better go away?” Jolly Robin asked Jasper at last.
“I think you had better leave,” Jasper screamed. He was very angry, because he knew that his friends were laughing at him. And instead of flying at the golden rooster again he made a swift attack on Jolly Robin.
Being angry, Jasper had forgotten that Jolly Robin’s wife was present. And to the blue-coated rascal there seemed suddenly to be as many as six Jolly Robins, each one with a furious wife, too.
Jasper fought his hardest. But he was no match for them. Very
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