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Authors: Policeman Bluejay

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BOOK: L. Frank Baum
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"Still, it was good of you to warn us," Twinkle added, sweetly.

The Bluejay looked upon the fluttering little things with kind
approval. Then he laughed outright.

"What has happened to your heads?" he asked.

"Nothing, 'cept they're smaller," replied Chubbins.

"But birds shouldn't have human heads," retorted the bluejay. "I
suppose the old tuxix did that so the birds would not admit you into
their society, for you are neither all bird nor all human. But never
mind; I'll explain your case, and you may be sure all the birds of the
forest will be kind to you."

"Must we stay like this always?" asked Twinkle, anxiously.

"I really can't say," answered the policeman. "There is said to be a
way to break every enchantment, if one knows what it is. The trouble in
these cases is to discover what the charm may be that will restore you
to your natural shapes. But just now you must make up your minds to
live in our forest for a time, and to be as happy as you can under the
circumstances."

"Well, we'll try," said Chubbins, with a sigh.

"That's right," exclaimed Policeman Bluejay, nodding his crest in
approval. "The first thing you must have is a house; so, if you will
fly with me, I will try to find you one."

"I—I'm afraid!" said Twinkle, nervously.

"The larks," declared the bluejay, "are almost the strongest and best
flyers we have. You two children have now become skylarks, and may soar
so high in the air that you can scarcely see the earth below you. For
that reason you need have no fear whatever. Be bold and brave, and all
will be well."

He spoke in such a kindly and confident voice that both Twinkle and
Chubbins gained courage; and when the policeman added: "Come on!" and
flew straight as an arrow into the air above the tree-tops, the two
little skylarks with their girl and boy heads followed swiftly after
him, and had no trouble in going just as fast as their conductor.

It was quite a pleasant and interesting experience, to dart through the
air and be in no danger of falling. When they rested on their
outstretched wings they floated as lightly as bubbles, and soon a
joyous thrill took possession of them and they began to understand why
it is that the free, wild birds are always so happy in their native
state.

The forest was everywhere under them, for it was of vast extent.
Presently the bluejay swooped downward and alighted near the top of a
tall maple tree that had many thick branches.

In a second Twinkle and Chubbins were beside him, their little hearts
beating fast in their glossy bosoms from the excitement of their rapid
flight. Just in front of them, firmly fastened to a crotch of a limb,
was a neatly built nest of a gray color, lined inside with some soft
substance that was as smooth as satin.

"Here," said their thoughtful friend, "is the nest that Niddie Thrush
and Daisy Thrush built for themselves a year ago. They have now gone to
live in a wood across the big river, so you are welcome to their old
home. It is almost as good as new, and there is no rent to pay."

"It's awfully small!" said Chubbins.

"Chut-chut!" twittered Policeman Bluejay. "Remember you are not
children now, but skylarks, and that this is a thrush's nest. Try it,
and you are sure to find it will fit you exactly."

So Twinkle and Chubbins flew into the "house" and nestled their bodies
against its soft lining and found that their friend was right. When
they were cuddled together, with their slender legs tucked into the
feathers of their breasts, they just filled the nest to the brim, and
no more room was necessary.

"Now, I'll mark the nest for you, so that everyone will know you claim
it," said the policeman; and with his bill he pecked a row of small
dots in the bark of the limb, just beside the nest. "I hope you will be
very happy here, and this afternoon I will bring some friends to meet
you. So now good-bye until I see you again."

"Wait!" cried Chubbins. "What are we going to eat?"

"Eat!" answered the bluejay, as if surprised. "Why, you may feast upon
all the good things the forest offers—grubs, beetles, worms, and
butterfly-eggs."

"Ugh!" gasped Chubbins. "It makes me sick to just think of it."

"What!"

"You see," said Twinkle, "we are not
all
birds, Mr. Bluejay, as you
are; and that makes a big difference. We have no bills to pick up the
things that birds like to eat, and we do not care for the same sort of
food, either."

"What
do
you care for?" asked the policeman, in a puzzled voice.

"Why, cake and sandwitches, and pickles, and cheese, such as we had in
our basket. We couldn't
eat
any live things, you see, because we are
not used to it."

The bluejay became thoughtful.

"I understand your objection," he said, "and perhaps you are right, not
having good bird sense because the brains in your heads are still human
brains. Let me see: what can I do to help you?"

The children did not speak, but watched him anxiously.

"Where did you leave your basket?" he finally asked.

"In the place where the old witch 'chanted us."

"Then," said the officer of the forest, "I must try to get it for you."

"It is too big and heavy for a bird to carry," suggested Twinkle.

"Sure enough. Of course. That's a fact." He turned his crested head
upward, trying to think of a way, and saw a black speck moving across
the sky.

"Wait a minute! I'll be back," he called, and darted upward like a
flash.

The children watched him mount into the sky toward the black speck, and
heard his voice crying out in sharp, quick notes. And before long
Policeman Bluejay attracted the other bird's attention, causing it to
pause in its flight and sink slowly downward until the two drew close
together.

Then it was seen that the other bird was a great eagle, strong and
sharp-eyed, and with broad wings that spread at least six feet from tip
to tip.

"Good day, friend eagle," said the bluejay; "I hope you are in no
hurry, for I want to ask you to do me a great favor."

"What is it?" asked the eagle, in a big, deep voice.

"Please go to a part of the forest with me and carry a basket to some
friends of mine. I'll show you the way. It is too heavy for me to lift,
but with your great strength you can do it easily."

"It will give me pleasure to so favor you," replied the eagle,
politely; so Policeman Bluejay led the way and the eagle followed with
such mighty strokes of its wings that the air was sent whirling in
little eddies behind him, as the water is churned by a steamer's
paddles.

It was not very long before they reached the clearing in the forest.
The horrid tuxix had wriggled her evil body away, to soothe her
disappointment by some other wicked act; but the basket stood as the
children had left it.

The eagle seized the handle in his stout beak and found it was no
trouble at all for him to fly into the air and carry the basket with
him.

"This way, please—this way!" chirped the bluejay; and the eagle bore
the precious burden safely to the maple tree, and hung it upon a limb
just above the nest.

As he approached he made such a fierce fluttering that Twinkle and
Chubbins were dreadfully scared and flew out of their nest, hopping
from limb to limb until they were well out of the monstrous bird's way.
But when they saw the basket, and realized the eagle's kindly act, they
flew toward him and thanked him very earnestly for his assistance.

"Goodness me!" exclaimed the eagle, turning his head first on one side
and then on the other, that both his bright eyes might observe the
child-larks; "what curious creatures have you here, my good policeman?"

"Why, it is another trick of old Hautau, the tuxix. She found two
children in the forest and enchanted them. She wanted to make them
toads, but they wouldn't touch her, so she couldn't. Then she got
herself into a fine rage and made the little dears half birds and half
children, as you see them. I was in a tree near by, and saw the whole
thing. Because I was sorry for the innocent victims I befriended them,
and as this basket belongs to them I have asked you to fetch it to
their nest."

"I am glad to be of service," replied the eagle. "If ever you need me,
and I am anywhere around," he continued, addressing the larks, "just
call me, and I will come at once."

"Thank you," said Twinkle, gratefully.

"We're much obliged," added Chubbins.

Then the eagle flew away, and when he was gone Policeman Bluejay also
bade them good-bye.

"I'll be back this afternoon, without fail," he said. "Just now I must
go and look over the forest, and make sure none of the birds have been
in mischief during my absence. Do not go very far from your nest, for a
time, or you may get lost. The forest is a big place; but when you are
more used to it and to your new condition you can be more bold in
venturing abroad."

"We won't leave this tree," promised Twinkle, in an earnest voice.

And Chubbins chimed in with, "That's right; we won't leave this tree
until you come back."

"Good-bye," said the policeman.

"Good-bye," responded Twinkle and Chubbins.

So the bluejay darted away and was soon lost to sight, and Twinkle and
Chubbins were left alone to seriously consider the great misfortune
that had overtaken them.

Chapter III - The Child-Larks
*

"Folks will be worried about us, Twink," said Chubbins.

"'Course they will," Twinkle replied. "They'll wonder what has become
of us, and try to find us."

"But they won't look in the tree-tops."

"No."

"Nor think to ask the birds where we are."

"Why should they?" enquired Twinkle. "They can't talk to the birds,
Chub."

"Why not? We talk to them, don't we? And they talk to us. At least, the
p'liceman and the eagle did."

"That's true," answered Twinkle, "and I don't understand it a bit. I
must ask Mr. Bluejay to 'splain it to us."

"What's the use of a p'liceman in the forest?" asked Chubbins, after a
moment's thought.

"I suppose," she replied, "that he has to keep the birds from being
naughty. Some birds are just awful mischiefs, Chub. There's the
magpies, you know, that steal; and the crows that fight; and the
jackdaws that are saucy, and lots of others that get into trouble.
Seems to me P'liceman Bluejay's a pretty busy bird, if he looks after
things as he ought."

"Prob'ly he's got his hands full," said Chubbins.

"Not that; for he hasn't any hands, any more than we have. Perhaps you
ought to say he's got his wings full," suggested Twinkle.

"That reminds me I'm hungry," chirped the boy-lark.

"Well, we've got the basket," she replied.

"But how can we eat cake and things, witched up as we are?"

"Haven't we mouths and teeth, just the same as ever?"

"Yes, but we haven't any hands, and there's a cloth tied over the top
of the basket."

"Dear me!" exclaimed Twinkle; "I hadn't thought of that."

They flew together to the basket and perched upon the edge of it. It
seemed astonishingly big to them, now that they were so small; but
Chubbins remarked that this fact was a pleasant one, for instead of
eating all the good things the basket contained at one meal, as they
had at first intended, it would furnish them with food for many days to
come.

But how to get into the basket was the thing to be considered just now.
They fluttered around on every side of it, and finally found a small
place where the cloth was loose. In a minute Chubbins began clawing at
it with his little feet, and Twinkle helped him; so that gradually they
managed to pull the cloth away far enough for one of them to crawl
through the opening. Then the other followed, and because the big
basket was not quite full there was exactly room for them to stand
underneath the cloth and walk around on top of a row of cookies that
lay next to a row of sandwiches.

The cookies seemed enormous. One was lying flat, and Chubbins declared
it seemed as big around as the dining-table at home.

"All the better for us," said Twinkle, bending her head down to nibble
at the edge of the cookie.

"If we're going to be birds," said Chubbins, who was also busily eating
as best he could, "we ought to be reg'lar birds, and have bills to peck
with. This being half one thing and half another doesn't suit me at
all."

"The witch wasn't trying to suit us," replied Twinkle; "she was trying
to get us into trouble."

"Well, she did it, all right," he said.

It was not so hard to eat as they had feared, for their slender necks
enabled them to bend their heads low. Chubbins' hat fell off, a minute
later, and he wondered how he was going to get it on his head again.

"Can't you stand on one foot, and use the other foot like a hand?"
asked Twinkle.

"I don't know," said he.

"The storks stand on one leg," continued the girl. "I've seen 'em in
pictures."

So Chubbins tried it, and found he could balance his little body on one
leg very nicely. For if he toppled either way he had but to spread his
wings and tail feathers and so keep himself from falling. He picked up
his hat with the claws of his other foot and managed to put it on by
ducking his head.

This gave the boy-lark a new idea. He broke off a piece of the cookie
and held it in his claw while he ate it; and seeing his success Twinkle
followed his example, and after a few attempts found she could eat very
comfortably in that way.

Having had their luncheon—and it amazed Chubbins to see how very
little was required to satisfy their hunger—the bird-children crept
out of the basket and flew down to the twig beside their nest.

"Hello!" cried a strange voice. "Newcomers, eh?"

They were so startled that they fluttered a moment to keep from
tumbling off the limb. Then Twinkle saw a furry red head sticking out
of a small hollow in the trunk of the tree. The head had two round
black eyes, an inquisitive nose, a wide mouth with sharp teeth and
whiskers like those of a cat. It seemed as big as the moon to the shy
little child-larks, until it occurred to the girl that the strange
creature must be a squirrel.

BOOK: L. Frank Baum
7.48Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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