The owl looked very sleepy, and blinked his eyes very hard. "He must
have been asleep," said Laurie to himself, "owls always do sleep in the
day-time I suppose."
"Who-oo!" screeched the owl, flapping his wings and ruffling up his
feathers, and looking very hard at Laurie. "Oh, dear! I beg your
pardon," said Laurie, feeling very much frightened indeed, "I didn't
mean to be rude, but all the birds and animals on the farm here have
such a curious way of knowing what I'm thinking." The owl paid no
attention to him, however, but opened the door wider for them to enter,
and Laurie, keeping close behind the pigeon, stepped in. The owl was
evidently a bachelor, for his room was very untidy; books and papers lay
piled about in the greatest confusion, and while he tried in a clumsy
way to make room for them, every now and then he would upset something,
as he was extremely near-sighted. He finally pushed a revolving globe on
a stand toward Laurie, evidently thinking it a stool; it was very
uncomfortable to sit on, and it had a way of turning round at the least
little motion, and Laurie hoped that whatever the message was the
pigeon would not remain long.
[Illustration: The owl reads over the paper]
The pigeon now brought out a folded paper from a pocket underneath his
wing, and handed it to the owl, who opened it, and said he would give it
due consideration on reading it over. After listening to their
conversation awhile Laurie learned that the owl, because of his wisdom,
was the judge who decided the serious affairs and quarrels among the
other birds and animals. The room was built in the hollow of a dead
tree--it was quite snug, but not half so nice as the squirrel house, for
there was no pretty wall paper, and a great spider-web instead hung
across one corner of the room; on one side was an oval window, out of
which could be seen wood and meadow, and on a peg against the wall hung
a warm winter cloak of soft moleskin. The owl now gravely folded and
sealed several legal-looking documents, and gave them to the pigeon,
who, tucking them away in the same pocket, flapped his wings, and,
nodding to Laurie to jump on his back, flew out into the sunshine.
Laurie had hardly time to wonder where the pigeon was taking him to this
time, when he saw the farm below them, and they alighted on the roof of
the barn.
[Illustration: Laurie was standing on the top of the barn roof]
"Cock-a-doodle-doo," crowed the rooster on the weather-vane, but he
really thought he was saying "How-de-do-de-do?" He was a splendid
fellow, for he was pure gold and shone in the sunlight; he turned this
way and that for everybody to see him, until the common fowls in the
barn-yard envied him and wished themselves in his place, though if they
had only known it they were far better off than he, for they could pick
up corn and worms, while he was obliged to stand there always, which was
not so pleasant on rainy days. He was terribly hoarse, too, from the
damp weather, and it made his voice sound like a rusty hinge that needed
oiling. "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" he said to Laurie, and Laurie bowed the
best way he could, which was not very easy considering that he was
standing on the top of the barn roof. "So you are the little boy who has
come to visit at the farm-house; I saw you drive in. I see everything
and everybody, people come and people go; it is a mistake to think that
one must travel to see the world: I prefer to remain at home, but then
every one is not as bright as I"--he certainly was conceited--"still I
am never idle," he continued, "for I have my work to do; the farmer
cannot do without me. I warn him of a change of weather, but not
everyone who is changeable can be depended upon."
Here the pigeon interrupted him to tell him what the wind had said of a
storm coming, and he promised to look toward the east for it. The wind
had certainly got up, there was no doubting it; the weathercock and
pigeon were right, it was going to rain, big drops were pattering down
on the roof.
[Illustration: Beside him stood the turkey-gobbler]
Laurie looked round to find the pigeon, but he had disappeared, no doubt
for fear he would get his feathers wet. "Serves you right, serves you
right!" sounded close to Laurie's ear, and beside him stood the
turkey-gobbler. "So you thought the pigeons just flew round in a silly
sort of way, picking up crumbs did you," he said--or gobbled I should
say, his voice was so cross--"and you didn't suppose we had our work to
do as well as the people on the farm, did you?" he really looked very
alarming as he ruffled up his feathers and spread out his tail like a
great fan. "Serves you right, to be left out in the rain this way," he
went on, "next time you'll have better manners, I hope, than to call any
one a rude bird." Laurie was very much frightened indeed--it was raining
harder and harder; he started to run: patter, patter, patter, sounded
the feet of the turkey behind him, "gobble, gobble,"--patter,
patter,--no, it was only the rain drops this time, he was quite out of
breath, where was he?
[Illustration: The turkey-gobbler]
He looked about him, he was no longer in the barnyard--of course he knew
where he was now, but--how frightened he had been; he rubbed his eyes,
it was morning, the sun shone and there was Aunt Laura clapping her
hands in the doorway to waken him. "Wake up, wake up, Laurie," she
said--"why dear me," she added in a puzzled way, looking up at the
mantelpiece, "how did I happen to forget to shut the cupboard door last
night?"
[Illustration: "How did I happen to forget to shut the cupboard door
last night?"]
Perhaps she forgot to shut it, or the pigeon forgot, I do not know;
anyway that is the end of the Pigeon Story, children;--and maybe
to-morrow, when the stockings are all darned, and the toys put neatly
away, I shall tell you the Field Mouse Tale, or the Duck Tale or the
Windmill Tale, for there are four altogether--would you like to hear
them?
[Illustration: Flower ornament]
_Printed in Bavaria._
[Transcriber's Note: The original varied spelling has been retained in
this ebook. The following typo has been corrected:
p. 34: "How could a pigeon be in his room," -> this room
The Illustration descriptions have been added by the transcriber except
those marked in _italics_.]