The
mother bird, too, wanted to sing, but she had no time, and she turned
her song into work. So hungry were these little birds that it kept both
parents busy feeding them. Away each one flew. The moment the little
birds heard their wings fluttering among the leaves, five little yellow
mouths flew open wide, so that nothing could be seen but five yellow
mouths!
"Can anybody be happier?" said the father bird to the mother bird. "We
will live in this tree always, for there is no sorrow here. It is a tree
that always bears joy."
Soon the little birds were big enough to fly, and great was their
parents' joy to see them leave the nest and sit crumpled up upon the
branches. There was then a great time, the two old birds talking and
chatting to make the young ones go alone! In a little time they had
learned to use their own wings, and they flew away and away, and found
their own food, and built their own nests, and sang their own songs with
joy.
Then the old birds sat silent and looked at each other, until the mother
bird said: "Why don't you sing?" And he answered: "I can't sing--I can
only think and think.
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