A canary swung in his golden cage and sang joyously. The window was open,
so a lark heard him as she rose into the air. She alighted on the window
sill in wonder.
“How can you sing shut up in a cage!” she exclaimed. “Come out into the
free air and up into the sky with me.”
The canary stopped his song to listen to the lark. “Why do you stop
singing, little canary?” asked a sick boy, in a feeble voice. He was in
a bed near the canary’s cage. The lark could not see him, but she heard
him. “Your song,” said the boy, “makes me forget my pain.”
The canary burst into a sweeter song. “Now I know,” said the lark, “he
sings because it makes the sick boy happy.” And she flew upward, wiser
than before.