FullReads

This fine plan of Mamma Wren’s pleased Betty so much that she clapped her hands and startled the birds away.

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!” she cried. “I always wanted to see the little Princess father has told me about. She is ill, and cannot run and play as I do, so I should love to please her, and the cowslips are all out. I’ll go early and get a hat full, and not run away if she comes.”

Betty was so full of this delightful plan that she went early to bed, but did not forget to lean out of her window and peep through the roses into the nest where Mamma Wren brooded over her babies while the papa roosted near by with his head under his wing.

“Good-night, dear birds; thank you very much,” whispered Betty; but they did not mind her, and only twittered sleepily as if a dream disturbed them.

“Up, up, little maid;
Day has begun.
Welcome with us
Our father, the sun!”

sang the larks, as they rose from the grass and waked Betty with their sweet voices.

“Tweet, tweet, it is morning;
Please get up, mamma.
Do bring us some breakfast,
Our dearest papa,”

twittered the young wrens, with their mouths wide open.

“Click, clack, here’s another day;
Stretch our wings and fly away
Over the wood and over the hills,
Seeking food for our babies’ bills;”

and away went the storks with their long legs trailing out behind, while the little ones popped up their heads and stared at the sun.

“Cluck! cluck!
Here’s good luck:
Old yellow-legs
Has laid two eggs,
All fresh and sweet,
For our girl to eat,”

cackled the gray hens, picking about the shed where the cock stood crowing loudly.

“Coo! coo! coo!
Come, bathe in the dew;
For the rosy dawn shines
Through our beautiful pines.
So kiss, every one,
For a new day’s begun,”

called the doves softly to one another as they billed and cooed and tripped about on their little pink feet.

Betty looked and listened at her window, and was so happy she kissed the roses nodding at her, then ran down to make the porridge, singing like a bird herself. When her father had gone away to work she made haste to milk Daisy, sweep the floor, and make all tidy for the day before she went to wait for the Princess.

“Now, you eat your breakfast here while I get the cowslips; for this is a pretty place to be in, and I want you to look very nice when the fine people come,” said Betty, as she left the cow to feed in a little shady nook by the road where the grass was green and an old oak made pleasant shade.

The cowslips were all open and as yellow as gold, so Betty made a great nosegay of some and a splendid cowslip-ball of the rest; then she put them in her hat, well sprinkled with water, and sat on a fallen log knitting busily, while Daisy lay down to chew her cud, with a green wreath of oak leaves round her neck for full dress.

They did not have to wait long. Soon the tramp of horses was heard, and along the wood-road came the white ponies tossing their heads, the pretty carriage with coachman and footman in blue and silver coats, and inside the little Princess, with white plumes waving from her hat as she sat by her nurse, wrapt in a soft silken cloak, for the summer air seemed cold to her.

“Oh, there’s the Brownie and her pretty white cow! Tell her not to run away, I want to see her and hear her sing,” cried the little Princess, eagerly, as they came nearer.