  The next morning the sun was up before Father Thrift. In fact, when he awoke the sun had already taken the sparkling dewdrops away on a journey back to the clouds. The sky was bright. The birds were singing, the insects humming. And the flowers were smiling and thanking the sun for the warmth and the light. Father Thrift rubbed his eyes and looked about him. Something was wrong, very wrong! The rooster wasn’t crowing. The dog wasn’t barking. The horses weren’t neighing. Those were familiar sounds to He drew a deep breath. The air was sweet with the odor of fir trees and of pine. “Ah,” he said, “how could I have forgotten that only yesterday I left the quaint old town! “This, then, is my new home in the forest. It is a glorious home!” Soon the queer little old man had his breakfast. He had freshly picked berries and bread, and clear, cool water from a spring near by. Then he sat down on a log, to think. Suddenly he heard a great rustling of leaves and a flapping and fluttering of wings. Turning around, he found himself face to face with such a gathering of animals and birds as he had never in his life seen. And at his elbow stood—who do you suppose? Great Gray Owl, whom he had heard hoot in the night. Before Father Thrift had time to ask what the gathering was about, Great Gray Owl rolled his big eyes and said: “Father Thrift, permit me to introduce to you the animals of the forest.” “I am happy to meet you all,” said Father Thrift kindly. Then the animals gave a shout that sounded like three cheers and a hundred tigers. Do you wonder at that? You will not when I tell you all that were present. There were the shaggy bears, the red foxes, the busy beavers, the gray wolves, the cottontail rabbits, the bushytail squirrels, the woodchucks, the chipmunks, and the deer. Then there were the eagles, the owls, the hawks, the crows, the blue jays, and the robins, and many others of the bird family. Even the honeybees and the butterflies, the insects and the snakes were there. Indeed, all the animals of the forest must have been present, there were so many. It was wonderful how quickly they had learned of Father Thrift’s coming to their home. Now the Great Gray Owl was waving a stick in the air, motioning for silence. When everything was quiet, he perched himself on a tall stump, where every one could see him, and made a speech. “Father Thrift,” he said, “we welcome you to the forest. We are glad that you have come to live with us. “Many years ago we birds and animals had a king. But he died and since then things have not gone well with us. “We have not lived wisely. I fear many of us have wasted when we had plenty, and suffered when what we had was gone. “If you will be our king, we will promise to do exactly as you say.” He rolled his big eyes at the animals and asked, “Won’t we?” And every one of the animals shouted, “We will!” But Father Thrift declared that he would rather be only one of them, instead of being their ruler. He would advise them, and teach them, and help them. “And we will help you, too,” said Shaggy Bear. “I’ll give you my cave for keeps, to begin with.” “And I’ll bring you nuts to eat,” said Bushytail Squirrel. “And I’ll bring you some of my honey,” said Honeybee. “That is, I will if Shaggy Bear doesn’t steal it all.” “And I’ll bring you plenty of mice,” said Great Gray Owl. But Father Thrift only smiled at that. For, of course, mice would be of no use to him! |
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