THE CANARY THAT WAS CROSS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8, 25 February 1909, Page 317

THE CANARY THAT WAS CROSS

Phyllis had a wonderful canary. It was a yellow canary but that was not what made it wonderful It was hke some children in that the most wonderful" thing about it wag its temper. It was a wonder for getting cross, and if its water was not all right, and if its seed was not just so, it moved its foolish head quickly and behaved ridiculously. 'Tantrums' is, I think, tli on y word that rightly described its behaviour. - One day Phyllis closed the door of its cage and forgot to fasten it. It was rather fortunate that just then VM\Jy?a*F£ S £ momin ScallS call elsewhere, for as soon as Sf f ?fc % J OOI \ the ca «ary butted against the door of the cage and forced it open. Next it flew around a little m descending circles, and at last it perched on the sideboard At the back of the sideboard was a fhn«Sl Il S amazement tiie canary saw what he thought was another canary staring him straight in the w£n 1, i S Iff I m ' dhe looked awa y f °r a mi^te. When he looked back again there, of course, he saw his image gazing at him again. He blinked hard and then he spoke. 'Foolish and obstreperous birdhng ' he said, 'do not stare like thS ! You are so ugly and so yellow that you make me quite bilious. Avaunt vile bird ! Also, shoo ! Get away! ' m The canary looked hard and shifted one leg, and to his utter disgust the bird in the glass, instead of moving away, simply imitated him. 'That,' he screamed out loud, 'is impudence! You are no birdl You are not even a painted sparrow! You are just rudeness wrth' some stolen feathers glued on all round! Pah and poohl Ana fly away I He stopped speaking; and in the hope the other bird would answer him, he began to tMnk' hard of nasty Lings he could say when he himself spoke next. But the bird in the glass said nothing, and so the canary got very angry indeed. - ' Speak ' he commanded, swelling* Mm 3 out, 'or upon my word I shall become quite crosf. Don't move your head just the same way as I do. If you don't i°top a 7m y itiL C g° m 6 e.'° "* P «* m **» P^ But the bird in the glass did not stop, and the real that PhX W° USly a?g f y i hat he did » ot even qfc JK?\^? + CC ° me "?? tlle room and was watching. She stared hard to see him run back a little and then rush forward and peck at his own image as hard as he could. < There,' he said, in a language PhvlSs did not understand < take, that and that! gg A nd there is inotter fpr always trying -to peck back the same way as I do ! JOh,

Li!™/ 0 T gr3 T., An ? his round e>e S . flamed, and he danced and pecked, and was altogether a sorry sight. and tl wi7l gaYe ii ° n t Iha1 ha I d lu £ g ? crash against'the glass, and his beak began to bleed. This increased his fury* and he pecked harder than ever, and just ..before Phyllis put out her hand to take him up he fell down, quite exhausted a'nd l^ 81 -^^ 8 8t h!lh !l image in the mirror > and muUering and .seeming crosser than ever. y ,'n w y i liS^°° k h i m ! UP 1^ and Oh, how he throbbed m her hands, and how his heart did beat! She kissed him, dirty mouth and all, and then she washed him aH over m lukewarm water and talked to him gently. And the last thing she said to him was this : 'Why, Dicky, didn't you know that when children and birds are angry and behave spitefully to other people they always make a mistake; and what is more, if they .only knew, all spitefulness really hurts them more than it hurts the people with whom they are angry. " There you foolish old birdie ! Go back into your Xge, and let us try and be good together.'. . 6j v