Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin
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Ben Field >> Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin
The whistles of the city were blowing, and the big clock in the Court
House was just striking seven, when Robert Robin and his family flew
along the shore of the great lake for a short distance, and then
suddenly swerved up into the high air over the woods and fields, and at
half-past four that afternoon, they could see Brigg's Brambles, and
their own woods, with their tall basswood tree standing in the corner of
it.
Mister Jim Crow was sitting on a fence stake listening to Mister
Bob-o-link who was singing his Spingle, Spangle song, when he saw six
robins dart into Robert Robin's basswood tree.
"Some strange robins are in Robert Robin's tree!" he said to himself. "I
had better go over and see where they came from, what they are going to
do, and who they are!"
So Jim Crow flew over towards the big basswood tree and sang out: "What,
ho! Strangers! Whence came ye! Whither bound, and who's't?"
A tired-looking robin hopped to the end of a twig and answered: "Well!
Well! If there isn't my old friend, Jim Crow! It does seem so good to
get back home again and see the neighbors!"
"Why! It is Robert Robin!" exclaimed Jim Crow. "I thought that you were
away on your vacation!"
"We have been, and we have returned!" said Robert Robin.
"You made a short stay of it!" said Jim Crow. "You left us yesterday
morning!"
"Can that be possible?" said Robert Robin. "It seems to me that we were
away a week! But the very best part of a vacation is the getting back!"
said Robert Robin, and Jim Crow said:
"It was very quiet around the woods while you were away. There was no
one to sing us a Hurry-up song in the morning, and no one to sing us a
Cheer-up song in the afternoon, and no one to sing us a Good-night song
when the red sun was sinking behind the purple hill. Mrs. Crow has had
the blues all day, Billy Rabbit has been very lonely, and even
Melancthon Coon was asking what had become of you; he had missed your
singing. I came over here just on purpose to listen to little Mister
Bob-o-link sing his Spingle, Spangle song. So you see, Mister Robin, we
all need you to cheer us up with your songs and keep us good-natured!"
"Thank you very much, Mister Crow!" said Robert Robin, "I will surely
remember to sing you my Good-night song, when the sun goes down behind
the hill!"
And that evening, when the red sun was sinking behind the purple hill,
and the sky of the west was hung with the tapestry of clouds, and the
shadows in the valley were soft as black velvet, and the breath of the
wind was like a whisper among the leaves, Robert Robin sang his
Good-night song:
"Mellow light!
Mellow light!
Yellow light!
Yellow light!
Has gone!
Has gone!
Let us rest,--
Let us rest!
'Til dawn,--'til dawn!"
Then Mister Robert Robin fluttered down into his own big basswood tree,
and he and all of his family slept soundly all night, and not even
Mister Screech-owl and his whistle disturbed them.
CHAPTER VIII
ROBERT ROBIN TELLS THE STORY OF WINTER
It was well towards Fall when Mister and Mrs. Robert Robin's second
family were out of the nest, and flying around. The days were getting
shorter and the nights seemed very, very long to Robert Robin, who kept
the sharpest watch to see the first faint light of dawn in the east. For
Robert Robin felt it his duty to waken everybody just as quickly as he
was sure that morning was about to break. But as the sun came up in the
east a little later each morning, Robert Robin had longer and longer to
wait.
"It seems to me that last night was the longest night that we have had
this summer!" he said to Mrs. Robin.
"Perhaps to-night will not be as long!" said Mrs. Robin.
"Perhaps not!" said Robert Robin, "but if to-night is any longer than
last night, I am going to get the children together and tell them about
the Great White Bear and the Little Gray Mouse!"
That afternoon the clouds covered the sky, and towards night a fine
misty rain fell, so that the afternoon was dark, and it seemed to Robert
Robin that night arrived long before time for it.
"It is getting dark here in the middle of the afternoon!" he said.
The next morning a fog covered all the land, and Robert Robin had good
reason to think that the night was far too long.
"Some one is taking our days away from us! By this time to-morrow we
will not have any light left, if it keeps on this way!"
But in the afternoon the fog banks drifted away, and the bright sun
shone, so Robert Robin felt much better, and he even sang a few songs to
cheer up Jim Crow and the other neighbors.
"This is a very fine day!" said Mrs. Robin. And so it was.
The sky was clear and of the deepest blue, the wind was still, and the
woods were quiet. Over in the farmer's barnyard a hen was cackling, but
in the woods not a sound could be heard. Mister Chipmunk was sitting on
his old home stump, but he had nothing to say, and Mister Tom Squirrel
had been working so hard lately, that he was too tired to talk.
"To-day would be a good day to tell the children the story of the Great
White Bear, and the Little Gray Mouse!" said Mrs. Robin to Robert Robin.
"Well! Get them together, and I will tell them the story!" said Robert
Robin. "I may as well do it one time as another, and it doesn't take any
longer to do a thing when you think of it than it does to put it off and
then have to think of it again!"
So Mrs. Robin called to the children to come and hear Robert Robin tell
the story of the Great White Bear and the Little Gray Mouse.
When the children had all gathered in the big basswood tree Robert Robin
said, "Come with me!" and led the way to the other side of the woods,
near the big stone under which Gerald Fox had his new home, and not far
from the old stump fence. Here were many sumach bushes with their
fernlike leaves and bright red bobs.
Robert Robin perched on a sumach limb, and straightened his feathers,
then he sat up very much as if he were about to sing, and said:
"I have brought you to this side of the woods to tell you the story of
the Great White Bear, and the Little Gray Mouse, because it was in this
very spot that my father told me the same story, and it was in this same
place that his father told the story to him, and no one knows how many,
many years the family has gathered here by the big stone, to listen to
this same story of the Great White Bear and the Little Gray Mouse.
Sheldon! Will you please turn around and look this way?"
"All of you children should pay the closest attention to this story. You
should not miss a single word of it, for it will be your duty to tell it
to your children, just as I am telling it to you, for this is the story
of Winter, and the story of why all robins fly southward every Fall,
and why they return to the north in the Spring!"
Then Robert Robin told them the story of the Great White Bear, and the
Little Gray Mouse.
_Robert Robin's Story_
It was many, many seasons ago, before there was any north or south,
and when there was only an east and a west, that there lived in the
deep, dark woods of the north a King Robin. This King Robin and his
mate and their four baby robins were all the robins that there were
to be found in all the deep, dark woods.
Every morning when the gray light in the east glowed through the
woods, King Robin sang a song, and every evening when the sun was
about to sink behind the hills of the west, King Robin sang another
song.
King Robin's breast was covered with the softest and whitest down,
but one day Mrs. Robin noticed that the tiny tips of the feathers
were stained with red.
"You have some cherry juice on your white breast!" said Mrs. King
Robin.
"I will wash it off!" said King Robin.
So King Robin plunged into Lake Win-a-ke-tea-cup and washed his
white breast, but the stain would not come off, and each day the
tiny tips of the soft white feathers of King Robin's breast became
a darker red until at last as King Robin sat in the top of his tall
tree and sang his evening song, his breast was the color of the red
sunset, and each morning as he sang his morning song, the red
sunrise was no redder than King Robin's breast. And King Robin grew
very proud of his red breast which was stained by the dyes of the
glowing sky.
Near the foot of King Robin's tree a Little Gray Mouse had his
nest, and as the weather was neither too warm nor too cold, the
Little Gray Mouse often sat outside his door and visited with King
Robin.
One day they were talking about the Great White Bear. The Great
White Bear lived in a cave. The cave was very large, and in one
corner of it the Great White Bear had his nest. The Little Gray
Mouse said to King Robin: "I am not afraid of the Great White Bear.
Are you?"
And King Robin answered, "Yes, I am very much afraid of the Great
White Bear."
"I dare go into his cave, and tangle his fur!" said the Little Gray
Mouse.
"I would not do that, if I were you!" said King Robin. "If the
Great White Bear grew angry, he might do something terrible to
you!"
"Pooh!" said the Little Gray Mouse, "who is afraid of a bear? I
will stay in his cave all night, and tangle his fur into little
hard knots!"
And that night while the Great White Bear was hunting in the
woods, the Little Gray Mouse slipped into his cave and hid himself
in a corner of the rocks.
But when the Great White Bear came home he smelled the Little Gray
Mouse and roared: "Some mouse is hiding in my cave! I smell a
mouse!" Then the Great White Bear listened to hear what the mouse
had to say, but the Little Gray Mouse was very much frightened, and
was trembling all over and did not say a word.
The Great White Bear was very tired, so he thought that he would
not catch the Little Gray Mouse until morning, so he crawled into
his nest and went to sleep.
When the Great White Bear was sound asleep and snoring, the Little
Gray Mouse came from the corner of the rocks and tangled the Great
White Bear's tail fur into little hard knots.
The next morning when the Great White Bear awoke he found that the
Little Gray Mouse had tangled his tail fur into little hard knots,
and the Great White Bear was very angry, and said to the mouse:
"I let you sleep in my warm cave and then you tangled my tail fur
into little hard knots!"
The Little Gray Mouse was so frightened that he ran out of the cave
and hid in the woods.
The Great White Bear sat down and tried to untangle the little hard
knots, but his tail was so short, and the place where his tail fur
was tangled was so hard to reach that the Great White Bear could
not untangle his tail fur, and he kept getting angrier every
minute, and at last he became so furious that he rushed from his
cave and began tearing the woods to pieces to find the Little Gray
Mouse. But the Little Gray Mouse hid under some leaves, and the
Great White Bear could not find him.
The Great White Bear saw King Robin sitting in his tree. "Tell me,
King Robin, where I can find the Little Gray Mouse?"
"I do not know where the Little Gray Mouse may be!" said King
Robin. "He is hiding in the woods!"
Then the Great White Bear sat down and thought, and thought, and
thought, and at last he said: "I am going to find the Little Gray
Mouse if I have to freeze the woods! You have always been a good
friend of mine, King Robin, and I dislike to put you to any
trouble, but if I were you I would take my family and go across the
lakes and over the mountains and along the river to the great bay!"
King Robin thought that the Great White Bear was joking, but the
Great White Bear stood in the door of his cave and blew the cold
air into the woods, and soon the frost from his cold breath
whitened the twigs of the trees, and turned the leaves many strange
and beautiful colors.
"What a pretty woods you are making!" said King Robin to the Great
White Bear, but the Great White Bear only answered:
"If I were you I would take my family and go across the lakes, and
over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay!"
And the next night the Great White Bear stood in the door of his
cave and blew his cold breath through the woods, and when the
morning came the bare branches of the trees were singing in the
wind, and the leaves were drifting in the hollows, and King Robin
and his family were cold and hungry.
"If I were you, I would take my family and go across the lakes and
over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay!" said the
Great White Bear to King Robin.
And that night the Great White Bear stood in the door of his cave
and blew his cold breath through the woods, and when the morning
came the ground was white with snow, and the streams were covered
with ice, and the Great White Bear saw King Robin sitting in his
tree,--"If I were you, I would take my family and go across the
lakes and over the mountains, and along the river to the great
bay."
Then King Robin called his family together, and repeated to them
what the Great White Bear had told him,--"Across the lakes and over
the mountains and along the river to the great bay!" and King Robin
made each one repeat it over and over again,--"Across the lakes,
and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay."
And that very day while the snow was still falling and the cold
breath of the Great White Bear was blowing through the woods, King
Robin led his family southward across the lakes and over the
mountains, and along the river to the great bay, and they could
feel the cold breath of the Great White Bear on their backs until
they reached the great bay.
And the Great White Bear blew his cold breath through the woods
until the forest was deep with snow, and the frosty air sparkled at
night, and the frozen trees snapped with the cold. "Now I have
frozen the Little Gray Mouse!" said the Great White Bear to
himself, and he went back to his cave and slept until the woods
were warm with the breath of the south wind, and King Robin was
back in his tree.
And that is the story of the first Winter, and we should never have
had another were it not for the foolish Little Gray Mouse, who was
hidden all winter under the snow. For if the Little Gray Mouse
would but be content to stay well hidden from the Great White Bear,
then we should have no more Winter, but in the Fall the foolish
Little Gray Mouse runs through the corn stubble and the Great White
Bear sees him. "There goes the Little Gray Mouse who tangled my
tail fur!" roars the Great White Bear, and again he blows his cold
breath through the woods, and over the country, and all the cold
weather we have is on account of that foolish Little Gray Mouse who
tangled the tail fur of the Great White Bear!
When Robert Robin had finished speaking, Mrs. Robin said, "Now,
children, you must all repeat what the Great White Bear told King
Robin,--'Across the lakes and over the mountains, and along the river to
the great bay.'" Then all the youngster robins repeated, "Across the
lakes and over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay," and
while they were talking, the cool wind began to blow from out the north,
and Mrs. Robin said, "Feel how cold that wind is getting! The Great
White Bear must have seen the Little Gray Mouse!"
CHAPTER IX
MISTER ROBERT ROBIN HAS A BATTLE WITH THE SPARROWS
One morning Mister Robert Robin was awake earlier than usual. The wind
was blowing cold and chilly, and the stars were shining out of a cold
sky. The faintest glow was to be seen in the east, but that was enough
to prove to Robert Robin that morning was about to break. Yet Robert
Robin did not sing his Hurry-up song.
It was so cold and chilly that he did not feel like singing, and
besides, he thought to himself, "Why should I awaken the birds and
squirrels on a cold morning like this? There is nothing for them to do,
so I will let them sleep!"
So Robert Robin took a little nap, and when he awoke the sun was just
coming up, and then Robert Robin could see the frost. The roofs of the
farmer's buildings were covered with it, and so were the fence rails,
and even the leaves of the big basswood were white in places.
Mister Tom Squirrel was running through the woods telling everyone that
there had been a frost, and that the chestnut burrs would soon be open.
Mister Tom Squirrel was very much pleased, but Robert Robin could not
help feeling sad. For he knew that Winter was coming, and that the Great
White Bear was blowing his cold breath through the woods.
That very day the leaves of the big basswood turned brown, and were
dead, but the leaves of the apple trees still shone with a glossy green.
The apple tree seemed to like the frost.
Robert Robin did not sing at all, he felt as if he had lost something.
In the afternoon Mrs. Robin said: "When do we go across the lakes, and
over the mountains, and along the river to the great bay?"
"We might start to-day," answered Robert Robin. "Let us call the
children and go at once. We should be able to get as far as Watkins
Glen, or Elmira."
"Then we could sleep in the Glen!" said Mrs. Robin.
"There are too many crows in the Glen!" said Robert Robin, "but if we
reached Elmira, we might stay with Cousin Phineas, who lives on the
Heights!"
"Let us call the children and start right away!" said Mrs. Robin.
All the youngster robins came hurrying at the call, except little
Sheldon. But little Sheldon could not be found, and though all the
robins searched and called he did not answer nor come in sight.
"Where _can_ that child be?" said Mrs. Robin. "We cannot go south and
leave him here all alone!"
"No!" said Robert Robin. "That would never do! The owls might get him!"
Jim Crow came flying along and asked, "What seems to be the trouble,
folks?"
"We have lost little Sheldon!" said Robert Robin.
"Where did you lose him?" asked Jim Crow.
"We lost him from where he isn't!" said Robert Robin.
"You keep on looking where he isn't, and I will go and look where he
is!" said Jim Crow, as he flew away.
"He may be playing with those Nuthatch boys!" said Mrs. Robin.
All the robins kept searching the woods for little Sheldon, but Mister
Jim Crow flew over to Brigg's Brambles, and in a very short time he came
hurrying back and called to Robert Robin:
"Little Sheldon is over in Brigg's Brambles playing I-spy with Billy
Nuthatch!"
"Thank you very much, Mister Crow!" said Robert Robin, as he sped over
to Brigg's Brambles to get little Sheldon.
Little Sheldon did not want to come away. He was playing I-spy with
Billy Nuthatch, and it was his turn to go and hide, so Robert Robin
said, "You may hide just this once, then we must go!"
Little Billy Nuthatch "blinded" behind a big stump, and little Sheldon
whispered, "Come on, Daddy!" to Robert Robin, and both of them flew away
as fast as they could. And that was the reason why little Billy Nuthatch
hunted all that Fall for little Sheldon Robin, and never found him.
Robert Robin and his family were now ready to start for the south.
"Across the lakes, and over the mountains, and along the river to the
great bay!" repeated Robert Robin, and all the rest of the robins
repeated it after him,--"Across the lakes, and over the mountains, and
along the river to the great bay!"
Over the little lakes they flew, higher and higher into the air, until
the mountains were crossed, and the river lay in the wide valley below
them. The river itself seemed a blue ribbon on a carpet of brown and
green. Hardly a sound came from below, but the noise of their own wing
pinions as they whistled through the air made a sound like the panting
of tiny engines,--"Swish-swish-swish-swish!" as Robert Robin led his
family towards the warm south.
"Isn't that Elmira?" asked Mrs. Robin.
"Yes, my dear!" answered Robert Robin, "and we will soon be with Cousin
Phineas."
In a few moments they were all perched in the tree where Cousin Phineas
had his nest. But Cousin Phineas was not at home. He had gone to Big
Flats after sweet corn; Mister Oliver Sparrow came fluttering into the
tree and asked:
"Hi sye, Old Top, don't you know that this is not a public camping spot?
We 'ave no accommodations for tourists! Better keep moving or Hi'll call
the force!" That made Robert Robin very angry, and he hopped very close
to where Mister Oliver Sparrow was sitting and said, "In the country
where I came from, we robins do not let an impudent little sparrow even
speak to us, but I will not pull the feathers out of your back this
time, if you will kindly tell me where my Cousin Phineas is to-day!"
"Hi! Hi! Fellows!" shouted Oliver Sparrow. "'Ere's a country robin what
is a cousin of Phin's! Come and 'elp me pick 'em!"
[Illustration: The sparrows came rushing at Robert Robin and his family.
(Page 105) (Exciting Adventures of Mr. Robert Robin)]
Screaming and shouting at the tops of their voices, scores of sparrows
came rushing straight at Robert Robin and his family. Robert Robin was
very angry, and the first sparrow that came within the reach of his
strong bill, he sent reeling to the ground. Robert Robin shook the
feathers from his bill and struck the next and the next. The air was
full of the wicked sparrows. They came from the alleys, and from the
parks, from behind the houses and stores, until a cloud of them hung
above the maple tree, and filled the air with their screams.
Mrs. Robin and the youngster robins stayed close to the trunk of the
maple, but Robert Robin scorned to seek shelter, and bravely fought
against the great odds. Sparrow after sparrow went fluttering to the
earth under the swift blows of Robert Robin's strong bill, but on they
came by scores, and Robert Robin was beginning to tire.
A woman was sitting in a rocking chair by her front porch window. She
was reading a book and she was not paying any attention to the birds.
Her husband was a night watch, and he slept during the day.
"What are those pesky sparrows making so much noise about?" he called
from his bedroom. "They keep me awake with their heckling!"
"They are fighting some robins in the maple tree!" said the woman.
"Let the cat out!" said the man.
The woman got up from her rocking chair and let her yellow cat out of
the back door.
The big yellow cat heard the sparrows screaming, and tiptoed around the
house until he came in sight of the maple tree. When the big yellow cat
saw the flock of sparrows in the maple tree, he said to himself, "I will
creep close to those birds, then I will pounce upon one and have it for
my supper!"
The big yellow cat crouched under the barberry hedge and crept towards
the sparrows.
Oliver Sparrow came flying straight at Robert Robin's red breast. Quick
as a flash Robert Robin struck with his strong bill, and Oliver Sparrow
fell towards the ground. It was then that the big yellow cat sprang from
under the hedge.
"A cat! A cat! A cat!" screamed all the sparrows, and away they flew
back to the alleys, and parks, and behind the houses and stores, leaving
Robert Robin, and Mrs. Robert Robin, and all their children very tired
but unharmed.
"Kitty! Kitty! Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!" called the woman, and the big
yellow cat went bounding across the lawn.
Just then Cousin Phineas came home.
"My stars! If there isn't Cousin Robert, and all his folks!" shouted
Cousin Phineas. "Welcome to our city!"
"Glad to see you again, Cousin Phineas!" said Robert Robin. "But I
cannot say that I like your neighbors!"
"Have those wicked sparrows been here again?" asked Cousin Phineas.
"I have just had a fine fight with more sparrows than I ever saw before
in all my life!" said Robert Robin.
"It must have been that Oliver Sparrow and his gang!" said Cousin
Phineas. "They are very bad birds! I hope they did not hurt you?"
"Not a scratch!" said Robert Robin, "but see the sparrow feathers on the
ground under this tree!"
"Well! Well!" said Cousin Phineas. "There are enough sparrow feathers to
make a nest!"
"I pulled one out!" shouted little Sheldon, and sure enough the bold
little robin was still holding a sparrow's feather in his bill.
"He is _so_ much like his father!" said Mrs. Robin, "and some day he
will be a great big man-robin and whip all the naughty sparrows, just
like Daddy does!"
"He makes me think of our young Timothy!" said Cousin Phineas. "I am
sorry he is not here! He is a very bright youngster! My folks have gone
south for the Winter, but you must stay overnight with me, just the
same."
"We just dropped in to make a call, but, as you say, it _is_ getting
rather late, so if it is not too much trouble, we will accept your
invitation to remain overnight!" said Robert Robin.