Jolly Robin often complained about the wailing of Willie
Whip-poor-will. Willie lived in the woods, which were not far from the
orchard. And it was annoying to Jolly to hear his call,
"_Whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will_," repeated over and over again for
some two hours after Jolly's bed-time. Neither did Jolly Robin enjoy
being awakened by that same sound an hour or two before he wanted to
get up in the morning. And what was still worse, on moonlight nights
Willie sometimes sang his favorite song from sunset to sunrise.
"What a doleful ditty!" said Jolly Robin. "I must see this fellow and
tell him that he ought to change his tune." But the trouble was that
Jolly Robin did not like to roam about at night. He was always too
sleepy to do that. And in the daytime Willie Whip-poor-will was
silent, resting or sleeping upon the ground in the woods.
But a day came at last when Jolly Robin stumbled upon Willie
Whip-poor-will, sound asleep where he lived. And Jolly lost no time in
waking him up.
"I've been wanting to speak to you for some time," he told the drowsy
fellow.
"What's the matter?" Willie Whip-poor-will asked, with a startled
stare. "Are the woods on fire?"
"No!" said Jolly Robin. "I want to talk with you--that's all." And he
was as cheerful as anyone could have wished.
But Willie Whip-poor-will looked very cross.
"This is a queer time to make a call!" he grumbled. "I don't like to
be disturbed in broad daylight. I supposed everybody knew that
midnight is the proper time for a visit."
"But I'm always asleep then," Jolly Robin objected, "unless it's a
moonlight night and you happen to be singing on my side of the
woods."
Willie Whip-poor-will looked almost pleasant when Jolly said that.
"So you stay awake to hear me!" he exclaimed. "I see you like my
singing."
Jolly Robin laughed, because Willie had made such a funny mistake.
"You're wrong!" he said. "In fact, I've been wanting to talk with you
about that very thing. I want you to change your song, which is a very
annoying one. It's altogether too disagreeable. I'll teach you my
'_Cheerily-cheerup_' song. You'll like it much better, I think. And
I'm sure all your neighbors will.... Why not learn the new song right
now?" Jolly asked.
But Willie Whip-poor-will made no answer. Looking at him more closely,
Jolly Robin was amazed to see that he was sound asleep.
"Here, wake up!" Jolly cried, as he nudged Willie under a wing.
Again Willie Whip-poor-will sprang up with a bewildered expression.
"Hullo!" he said. "What's the trouble? Did a tree fall?"
"You went to sleep while I was talking to you," Jolly Robin
explained.
"Oh!" said Willie Whip-poor-will. "That doesn't matter. You must be
used to that." And the words were scarcely out of his mouth before he
had fallen asleep again.
Jolly Robin looked at him in a puzzled way. He didn't see how he could
teach Willie his "_Cheerily-cheerup_" song unless he could keep him
awake. But he thought he ought to try; so he gave Willie a sharp tweak
with his bill.
"Did you hear what I said about your singing?" he shouted right in
Willie's ear.
Willie Whip-poor-will only murmured sleepily:
"It's rheumatism. I just felt a twinge of it."
He had no idea what Jolly Robin was talking about.