"Little Miss Robin was preening her feathers and smoothing them down, for it was the 14th of February and she had received a valentine. Naturally she was very much excited, and she looked at her reflection as she stood over the brook.

"'Yes,' she said to herself, 'I am looking well to-day. I do hope Mr. Robin Redbreast will think so too. My, what a fine bird he is! And, oh, how lucky I am to have received a valentine from him!'

"Now Mr. Robin Redbreast for a long time had admired Miss Robin and thought she was the most beautiful bird he'd ever seen. And so he began to get his valentine ready 'way back in the autumn when the trees had turned red. He would fly from tree to tree and spend hours each day looking for the most beautiful and perfect leaf, and he wanted it to be a real crimson color. At last he found it and put it away in his nest, very carefully covering it over with moss and straw to keep it well protected and so it wouldn't fade or shrivel up at the ends. Then a few days before Valentine's day he got a little stick which he stuck through the red leaf, which he had pecked off into the shape of a heart, and this was the valentine he sent to Miss Robin. Of course the stick was to mean that his heart had been pierced by love.

"Mr. Robin Redbreast sent his valentine by a messenger, and then he waited what seemed hours to him before he went to call on Miss Robin, and it seemed hours to Miss Robin, too, who had smoothed her feathers so many times.

"At last Miss Robin heard him singing the most beautiful song, with such high notes it seemed as if they almost reached the sky. And, oh, how proud Miss Robin was to feel that such a beautiful singer was to be her mate!

"In a few moments Mr. Robin Redbreast came in sight and stood before her by the brook. Miss Robin was all of a flutter with joy and nervousness.

"'I've come,' said Mr. Robin Redbreast, 'to ask you if you'll be my wife and come to my new nest in the apple tree.'

"And then he sang another little song.

"'I would love to, I would love to!' chirped Miss Robin.

"'We'll be married to-day, then,' said Mr. Robin Redbreast, 'for I've invited the guests.'

"Then he gave a long call. At that, from far and near, countless robins flew down and hovered around.

"Mr. Robin Redbreast and his bride flew to the branch of a nearby tree, and all the others perched about them singing such merry, happy songs.

"And then they all went back to Mr. Robin Redbreast's nest, where a banquet awaited them of fat, juicy worms."