THE BISHOP AND HIS BIRDS.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume IV, Issue 11, 31 October 1857, Page 12

THE BISHOP AND HIS BIRDS.

Fifty or sixty years ago, a little boy resided in a small village near Dillegen, on the banks of the Danube. His parents were very poor, and almost as soon as the boy could walk, he was sent into the woods to pick up slicks for fuel. When he grew! older, his father taught him to pick the j \uniper berries, and carry them to a neigh- j distiller, who wauled them for making hollands. Day after day the boy went to his task, and on his road he passed by the open windows of the village school, where he saw the schoolmaster teaching a number of children about the same age as himself. He looked at these boys with feelings almost of envy, so earnestly did he long to be among them. He knew it would be vain to ask his father to send hini to school, for he knew his parents had no money to pay the schoolmaster; and he often passed the whole day thinking, while he was gathering juniper berries, what he could possibly do to please the schoolmaster, in the hope of getting some lessons. One day when he was walking sadly along, he saw two of the boys belonging to the school trying to set a birdtrap, and he asked one of them what it was for ? The Jjoy told him that the schoolmaster was very f9B& of Held-fares, and that they were set-

ting ihe trap lo catch some. This delighted the poor boy for he recollected that he had often seen a great number of thorn in the juniper wood, where they came to eat the berries, and he had no doubt but he could catch some. The next day the boy borrowed an old basket of his mother, and when he went to the wood he had the delight to catch two field-fares. He put them in the basket, and tying an old handkerchief over it, he took them to the schoolmaster, Just as he arrived at the door he saw the two little boys who had been selling the trap, and with some alarm asked them if they had caught any birds. They answered in the negative; and the boy with heart beating with joy gained admittance into the schoolmaster's presence. In a few words he told how he bad seen the boys setting the trap, and how he had caught the birds, to bring them as a present to his master. " A present, my good boy," said the schoolmaster; "you do not look as if you could afford lo make presents. Tell me your price, and I will pay it to you and thank you besides/' " f would much rather give them to you, sir, if you please," said the boy. The schoolmaster looked ai'ihe boy as he stood before him with bare head and bare feet, and ragged trousers that reached onlyhalf way down his naked legs. " You are a very singular boy," he said, " but if you will not take money, you must tell me what I can do for you, as I cannot accept your present without doing something for it in return. Is there anything I can do for you?" "Oh yes!" said the boy trembling with delight; "you can do for me what I should like belter than anything else." *' What is that?" asked the schoolmaster smtling. "Teach me to read," cried the boy, falling on his knees; "oh dear, kind sir, teach me to read." The schoolmaster complied. The boy came to hirn at his leisure hours, and learned so rapidly that the schoolmaster recommended him to a nobleman who resided iu the neighbourhood. This gentleman, who was as noble in his mind as in his birth, patronized the poor boy, and sent him to school at Rntisbon. The boy profited by his opportunities, gnd when be arose as he did to weallh and honours, lie adopted iwo field-fares as his amis, with lae motto ''Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing."