"The birds," said daddy, "found a new room for breakfast. It was in a row of bushes—and the bushes were berry bushes.

"One day as they were having the best sort of a time eating, who should look down at them but the king of the clouds. He looked quite dark and solemn.

"'Te-wit,' said one little bird, and another said,

"'Tr-r-r-i-l-l.'

"'How about some water to drink?' asked the king of the clouds. 'Some nice, fresh water?'

"The birds began chirping for all they were worth. The grown-ups said, 'Listen to the noise the birds are making. It must be going to rain—they're crying for water.'

"And sure enough, they were begging the king of the clouds to send some of his army of raindrops down to the earth. "'Please, please, please, Cloud King, send us rain-water,' chirped the birds.

"'All right,' roared the cloud king. 'I will.'

"'But we don't want thunder,' said the birds. 'We want to stay out, and we're afraid of thunder. Won't you send us a good old-fashioned shower?'

"And the cloud king called, 'Raindrops, raindrops, come and patter down to the earth. But gently, little raindrops. And when you see the beak of a little bird open, one small raindrop must walk inside.'

"Down came the raindrops very softly and gently to the earth.

"'Children,' called Mother Robin, 'come for your baths in these hollow stones. They're filled with water.'

"All around the mother birds were calling the little ones to their baths.

"'Oh,' said one little robin as he ducked his head into the water, and then shook all over and spattered it about, 'how nice a bath does feel.'

"The cloud king looked so bright and happy, that the mother birds were afraid it would stop raining. 'Don't stop, Cloud King,' they chirped.

"'I won't,' said the cloud king. And the birds twittered and sang and wet their little throats with the delicious rain-water.

"After the cloud king and his army of raindrops had been working for quite a long time, one of the birds noticed that the new breakfast room in the berry bushes was getting very wet.

"'It will spoil our berries for breakfast, I'm afraid,' he said.

"But the berries whispered back,

"'No; we like the rain too. We needed some water to drink. And more of us will come to-morrow. Your breakfast will be better than ever.'

"So all day long the rain kept up gently. When it was almost bedtime who should appear but old Mr. Sun.

"'Shall I dry your little feathers?' he said to the birds.

"And every little bird in birdland was warm and dry and happy when he tucked his head under his wing that night."