Categories
- Antiques & Collectibles 13
- Architecture 36
- Art 47
- Bibles 22
- Biography & Autobiography 811
- Body, Mind & Spirit 110
- Business & Economics 26
- Computers 4
- Cooking 94
- Crafts & Hobbies 3
- Drama 346
- Education 45
- Family & Relationships 50
- Fiction 11812
- Games 19
- Gardening 17
- Health & Fitness 34
- History 1377
- House & Home 1
- Humor 147
- Juvenile Fiction 1873
- Juvenile Nonfiction 202
- Language Arts & Disciplines 88
- Law 16
- Literary Collections 686
- Literary Criticism 179
- Mathematics 13
- Medical 41
- Music 39
- Nature 179
- Non-Classifiable 1768
- Performing Arts 7
- Periodicals 1453
- Philosophy 62
- Photography 2
- Poetry 896
- Political Science 203
- Psychology 42
- Reference 154
- Religion 488
- Science 126
- Self-Help 61
- Social Science 80
- Sports & Recreation 34
- Study Aids 3
- Technology & Engineering 59
- Transportation 23
- Travel 463
- True Crime 29
The Tale of Rusty Wren
Categories:
Description:
Excerpt
A PLEASANT HOME
Now, Rusty Wren had found—and shown to his wife—a hollow apple tree and a hole in a fence-rail, either of which he thought would make a pleasant place in which to live.
But since the little couple were house wrens, Rusty’s wife said she thought that they oughtn’t to be so far from the farmhouse.
“Why not build our nest behind one of the shutters?” she suggested.
But Rusty shook his head quickly—and with decision.
“That won’t do,” said he. “Somebody might come to the window and close the shutter; and then our nest would fall to the ground. And if we happened to have six or eight eggs in it, you know you wouldn’t like that very well.”
Rusty’s wife agreed with him on that point. But she still insisted that she wanted to live near the farmhouse; and she said that she expected her husband to find a good spot for their nest, for she certainly wasn’t going to spend the summer in a hole in a fence-rail, or in an old apple tree, either.
Rusty Wren saw at once that there was no sense in arguing with her. If he wanted any peace, he knew that he might as well forget the old hollow apple tree and the hole in the fence-rail too. He had better forget them and resume his search for a home. So he gave his plump little cinnamon-colored body a shake and held his tail at even a higher angle than usual, just to show people that he was going to be the head of the house—when they should have one. Then with a flirt of his short, round wings he hurried over to Farmer Green’s dooryard—after calling to his wife that he would come back and tell her if he had any luck.
Rusty Wren spent some busy moments about Farmer Green’s buildings. And since he loved to be busy and was never so happy as when he had something important to do, he hopped and climbed and fluttered to his heart’s content, looking into a hundred different holes and cracks and crannies.
But he didn’t find a single one that suited him. Every place into which he peered was either too big or too little, or too high or too low; or it was where the rain would beat upon it; or maybe it was so situated that the cat could thrust her paw inside. Anyhow, every possible nook for a nest had some drawback. And Rusty was wondering what he could say to his wife, who was sure to be upset if her plans went wrong, when all at once he came upon the finest place for a house that he had ever seen. One quick look through the small round opening that led to it was enough.
He knew right away that his search was ended. So he hurried back to the orchard to find Mrs. Rusty and tell her the good news.
“I’ve found the best spot for a house in all Pleasant Valley!” he cried, as he dropped down beside her and hopped about in his excitement.
“Is it in a good neighborhood?” she inquired calmly.
“Yes, indeed!” he replied. “It’s in a tree close to Farmer Green’s bedroom window.”
“A hole in a tree!” she exclaimed somewhat doubtfully. “Not an old squirrel’s nest, I hope?”
“No, no!” he assured her....