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EXCITING ADVENTURES OF MISTER ROBERT ROBIN
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The Wildwood Series
BY BEN FIELD
EXCITING ADVENTURES OF MR. TOM SQUIRREL
EXCITING ADVENTURES OF MISTER JIM CROW
EXCITING ADVENTURES OF MISTER GERALD FOX
EXCITING ADVENTURES OF MISTER MELANCTHON COON
EXCITING ADVENTURES OF MISTER ROBERT ROBIN
EXCITING ADVENTURES OF MISTER BOB WHITE
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[Illustration: They did not move as the great gray bird floated straight
towards their tree. (Page 10)
(Exciting Adventures of Mr. Robert Robin)]
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_The Wildwood Series_
EXCITING ADVENTURES OF
MISTER ROBERT ROBIN
By BEN FIELD
Illustrated
A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers
New York
Printed in U. S. A.
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Copyright, 1928, by
A. L. BURT COMPANY
Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. WHERE MISTER ROBERT ROBIN LIVED, AND SOMETHING
ABOUT HIS NEIGHBORS 1
II. MISTER ROBERT ROBIN SEES THE FARMER'S NEW
MALTESE CAT 13
III. ROBERT ROBIN AND WIDOW BLUNT'S STUFFED OWL 29
IV. MISTER ROBERT ROBIN HAS AN ADVENTURE WITH
THE FARMER'S MALTESE CAT 43
V. ROBERT ROBIN SINGS HIS CHERRY SONG 52
VI. MISTER ROBIN DECIDES TO TAKE A VACATION 60
VII. MISTER ROBERT ROBIN AND HIS FAMILY
TAKE A VACATION 71
VIII. ROBERT ROBIN TELLS THE STORY OF WINTER 85
IX. MISTER ROBERT ROBIN HAS A BATTLE WITH
THE SPARROWS 99
X. ROBERT ROBIN AND HIS FAMILY GO SOUTH 110
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
They did not move as the great gray bird
floated straight toward their tree Frontis
FACING PAGE
Both of them were scared almost out of their wits 36
They sat in an apple tree and watched the gulls
swooping and soaring through the air 76
The sparrows came rushing straight at
Robert Robin and his family 104
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THE EXCITING ADVENTURES OF MISTER ROBERT ROBIN
CHAPTER I
WHERE MISTER ROBERT ROBIN LIVED, AND SOMETHING ABOUT HIS NEIGHBORS
Mister and Mrs. Robert Robin lived in the big basswood tree which stood
at the corner of Mister Tom Squirrel's woods.
Their nest was made of sticks, and grass, and mud, and was so well
hidden in the largest fork of the tree that if you had been standing
near the foot of the big basswood, you could not have seen Mister Robert
Robin's nest at all. But if you had been able to fly up into the top of
the big basswood tree, then you might have looked down and seen the nest
and Mrs. Robert Robin's four greenish blue eggs, right in the middle of
it.
But if Mister Robert Robin, or Mrs. Robert Robin had spied you up in
their tree, they would have made a great fuss about it. They would have
screamed with all their might, and if you had gone near their nest they
would have flown right at you, and tried to frighten you away.
Many of Robert Robin's cousins, and aunts, and uncles lived in town.
They built their nests in the parks, and in the shade trees along the
streets. Some of them even built their nests in the porches, and on the
eaves troughs, and in barns, and sheds, and in the church steeples.
Others of Robert Robin's family lived out in the country, and had their
nests around the farmer's buildings, in orchards, under bridges, in
windmills, and in almost every other sort of a place, but Mister and
Mrs. Robert Robin would rather live in their own tall basswood tree than
any other place in the whole wide world.
Each Fall, when the weather grew cold, and the winds were chilly, and
the leaves of the big basswood turned brown, and then blew away, Robert
Robin and his whole family flew south, but each Spring when the weather
grew warmer, Robert Robin and Mrs. Robin came hurrying back north, to
build a new nest in their own basswood tree.
"No other place will ever seem like home to me!" said Mrs. Robin.
"I should never get over feeling homesick, if we should lose our tree!"
said Robert Robin.
So every Spring, before the snow banks in the gully were all melted, and
before the yellow water had ceased running down the lane, Mister and
Mrs. Robert Robin were back in their own tree, and were as busy as could
be building a nice new nest.
When Gerald Pox, and Melancthon Coon, and Jim Crow, and Wellington
Woodchuck, and Billy Rabbit, and Major Partridge saw Robert Robin flying
through the bare woods, or heard him singing his clear notes from the
top of his big basswood tree, they would say to themselves, "Robert
Robin is back from the south, and Spring will soon be here." And the
farmer's wife would say, "I heard a robin singing, it will soon be
Spring!" Then she would get her box of garden seeds down from the top
shelf of the kitchen cupboard and look to see if she had some tomato
seeds, and celery seeds, and pepper seeds, and cabbage seeds to plant in
a box by the south window.
Then it would not be long before the snow banks in the gully were all
melted, and the farmer would be fixing his fences and getting ready to
turn his stock out to pasture, and the farmer's wife's celery plants,
and all her other kinds of plants would be up, and Mister Swallow, and
Mister Swift, and Mister Bob-o-link, and all the other Mister Birds and
their wives would be coming back north, and it would be plain to
everybody that Spring was here and that Summer was on the way.
Even the big basswood tree seemed to wait for Robert Robin, and seemed
to miss him when he was away. All Winter the beautiful tree waved his
bare branches in the air, and when the frosty snow sparkled on the
meadows, and the stars were shining in the winter sky, the chilling wind
swept through the woods, and the branches of the tall basswood made a
sound like a sigh. But almost as quickly as Robert Robin returned, the
buds of the big basswood swelled with the green of new leaves, and soon
the great tree was no longer bare, but dressed from his foot to his
highest twig in broad leaves that fluttered in the summer breezes and
made a sound like the whispering of children.
Early every morning as soon as the sun began to light the east, Mister
Robert Robin was wide awake, and one of the first sounds that woke the
woods in the very early morning was Robert Robin's morning song.
From the highest branch of his tall basswood tree he would sing his
"hurry up song," and his clear cheery voice would echo through all the
woods.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!
Hurry up! Hurry up!
It is time,--
It is time
To get up--to get up!
Hurry up! Hurry up!"
Then Mister Tom Squirrel would come bounding out of his bed, and Major
Partridge would start strutting around, and Mister Wren would shake the
dew from his feathers and begin to sing, and in a few minutes all the
birds and animals that had been sleeping all night would be frisking and
flying around, the sun would begin to shine, the dew would go away, and
it would be daylight in the woods.
After Robert Robin had sung everybody out of bed, he would get his
breakfast, and then he would be ready for his day's work.
Robert Robin _did_ like to sing, but Mrs. Robin did not care to sing.
She was a very quiet sort of person, and did not like to appear in
public. She would much rather sit on her pretty greenish-blue eggs. She
sat on them to keep them warm so that the little baby robins that were
inside the eggs would grow to be strong enough to break the blue shells,
and come out and grow up to be big robins.
One morning after Robert Robin had finished singing his "hurry up song"
and the woods were ringing with the chatter of squirrels, the songs of
other birds, and the "Chip! Chip! Chip!" of Mister Gabriel Chipmunk,
Robert Robin was just going to get his breakfast, when suddenly the
squirrels stopped chattering, and the other birds stopped singing. It
was still in the woods, except for Mister Chipmunk, who was sitting on a
stump and screaming his "Chip! Chip! Chip!"
"There is danger around!" thought Robert Robin. "Something has
frightened the birds and squirrels!" So Robert Robin flew down where
Mrs. Robin was sitting on her nest.
Robert Robin perched on one of the big branches near Mrs. Robin, and
then he sat perfectly still.
Jeremiah Yellowbird was sitting on another branch, and he was sitting
perfectly still. Neither Robert Robin nor Jeremiah Yellowbird could tell
what had frightened the other birds and the squirrels, but both of them
were looking and listening with all their might.
A shadow fell from above, and Robert Robin cocked his head on one side
and looking up, saw Mister Jim Crow flying high above the top of the big
basswood tree. Mister Crow was circling around, and around, and looking
down into the woods, but he was not saying a word. He was trying to see
what had frightened the other birds and the squirrels. Robert Robin
could hear Jim Crow's wings go "Swish! Swish!" through the air.
Suddenly Mister Gabriel Chipmunk stopped screaming his "Chip! Chip!
Chip!" and Robert Robin could see him sitting on the stump. He was
sitting so still that he looked like a little light brown knot.
David Songsparrow, who had his nest in the elderberry bush over by the
fence, came flying into the woods. He perched on one of the big branches
of Robert Robin's tree and started hopping around looking for a bug for
his breakfast, but when he saw Robert Robin and Jeremiah Yellowbird
sitting so very still, he became quiet too, but his bright little eyes
were looking first one way, and then another, and he was listening with
all his might.
Mrs. Sheep, out in the farmer's pasture, called to her little lamb,
"Baa!" and the sound of her voice echoed through the woods until it
seemed as if all the trees were saying "Baa!" to each other. Then the
woods became so still that Robert Robin could hear the sound of the
waterfalls in the brook which flowed past Melancthon Coon's tree, way
over in the middle of the woods.
Out over the meadow, merry Mister Bob-o-link was singing his "Spingle!
Spangle! Song" and his voice sounded so much like the brook that Robert
Robin was just beginning to feel like singing a little song, himself,
when Mister Gabriel Chipmunk screamed "Chip!" and plunged under the
stump. Gabriel Chipmunk lived under the stump, and he went in the front
door of his house.
When Robert Robin heard Mister Chipmunk scream in that tone of voice, he
knew that Mister Chipmunk had seen something which had frightened him
very much.
Then Robert Robin saw something moving among the trees, and a terrible,
great, gray bird came swooping through the woods.
It was Mister Percy Hawk, and he was coming towards Robert Robin's tree.
The hawk's powerful, wide wings scarcely moved as he floated among the
trees, but his cruel eyes were watching to see if a squirrel or bird
might not be moving through the forest. If anything moved, Mister Percy
Hawk would surely see it, and pounce upon it, so all the birds and
squirrels were sitting as still as sticks.
Robert Robin, and David Songsparrow, and Jeremiah Yellowbird, each of
them was sure that the big hawk was looking right at them, but they did
not move as the great gray bird floated straight towards their tree.
"Swish! Swish!" came the sound of wings; "Caw! Caw!" shouted Jim Crow,
and five black crows darted downward through the branches of Robert
Robin's tree, and Mister Percy Hawk knew that the very best thing that
he could do for himself was to hurry away before the angry crows pulled
the feathers out of his back. Percy Hawk soared out of the woods, and
when he was above the pasture he struck the air with his powerful wings
and circled in great loops, and soon he was flying high above the tops
of the tallest tree.
The other crows went home, but Jim Crow came and perched in Robert
Robin's tree.
"Thank you very much for driving that terrible hawk away from my tree!"
said Robert Robin to Mister Jim Crow.
"Oh, you are entirely welcome, Mister Robin!" said Jim Crow. "If I had
only been here a moment before, I would have picked a few feathers out
of that bad Percy Hawk's back to pay him for always trying to catch my
baby crows!"
Then Jim Crow went over where the farmer was plowing, and Jeremiah
Yellowbird went home, and David Songsparrow caught a bug for his
breakfast, and Mister Gabriel Chipmunk came out and sat on his stump
and said "Chip! Chip!" as loudly as he could say it, and the squirrels
began chattering, and Major Partridge played a tune on his drum, and
Mister Robert Robin mounted the very highest twig of his big basswood
tree and sang a song for Mrs. Robin:
"Cheer up! Cheer up!
Cheer up! Cheer, up!
Be cheery!
Be cheery!
Cheer up! Cheer up!"