The Tale of Rusty Wren — Reading Companion

Everybody said it certainly was odd, for the wren always sang as soon as it began to grow light.

Well, that night Farmer Green went to bed before dark, declaring that he must be up bright and early in the morning.

"I wish that new clock I brought home day before yesterday was an alarm clock," he said. "Then I wouldn't have to worry about waking up on time.... Anyhow, I ought to hear the wren again to-morrow morning."

But Farmer Green hoped in vain. Though the cat had not caught Rusty, and he had not moved away, either, he no longer sang beneath Farmer Green's window at dawn.

For three mornings he had gone to the orchard to trill his dawn song; and though they did not know the reason, that was why the Green family rose late for three mornings running.

Once Rusty Wren had been proud to be called Farmer Green's alarm clock. But now something had happened that made him resolve to stop waking the household.

It was all on account of one of those surprises that Farmer Green had brought home from the village. For without intending to do any such thing, Farmer Green had surprised Rusty Wren as well as Johnnie and his mother.

Now, a surprise may be one of two kinds--pleasant or unpleasant. And, strangely enough, the very thing that delighted the Green family sent Rusty Wren into a spasm of jealous rage.

Of course, it was very silly of him to lose his temper. But he was too upset to stop to think of that.

Farmer Green had not been home long, after his trip to the village, when Rusty Wren heard a sound that for once made him keep quite still for at least five seconds.

"Cuckoo! cuckoo!" The cry came from inside the farmhouse. And since the windows were wide open, Rusty could easily hear it from the tree near-by, where he lived.

"There's a new bird in there!" Rusty Wren exclaimed to himself as soon as the sound reached his ears. He listened intently. But the call was not repeated.

"Farmer Green is not satisfied with my singing!" Rusty cried. And thereupon he flew into such a rage that when his wife came home, a few minutes later, she was actually frightened.

"What in the world is the matter?" she asked her husband anxiously.

"Matter?" cried Rusty Wren. "Here I've sung my best for Farmer Green all summer, and waked him at dawn every morning without fail! And what do you suppose he's done? He has brought home a strange bird from the village, because he doesn't care for my singing."

Mrs. Rusty Wren told her husband that he must be mistaken.

"Maybe a bird flew inside the farmhouse by accident," she said. "What kind of bird is it?" she inquired.

"It _said_ 'Cuckoo!'" Rusty explained. "But if it's a cuckoo, it's different from any other I've ever heard. You know yourself that Black Bill Cuckoo who lives in the bushes beyond the orchard says '_Cow, cow!_'"

"I wouldn't worry, if I were you," Mrs. Rusty advised her husband. "No doubt this strange bird has already made his escape."

It was then after sunset. And soon Rusty Wren's family were all fast asleep, without having heard any more bird notes from the farmhouse.

The next morning Rusty awoke just as the first streaks of gray showed in the east. He was about to begin his dawn song when through the kitchen window came that "Cuckoo! cuckoo!" again.

Rusty knew then that the strange bird was still there.

"Did you hear that?" he asked his wife.

She nodded her head silently.

"He's telling Farmer Green that it's time to get up!" Rusty exclaimed indignantly. "And since Farmer Green has seen fit to get somebody else to wake him, I certainly shall not trouble myself on his account any more."

So Rusty Wren flew away to the orchard to sing his dawn song. Jolly Robin, who lived there, in an old apple tree, was surprised to hear Rusty Wren singing in that neighborhood so early. And he was still more astonished at Rusty's melody.

His voice was so much shriller than usual that Jolly Robin knew instantly that something had displeased him.

"What's happened to upset you?" Jolly Robin inquired, after Rusty had finished singing.

"I expect to come here and give my dawn song every morning," Rusty remarked. "And if there's anybody living in the orchard that objects, he had better move away at once."

Of course Jolly Robin didn't want to do that. And he said as much, too.

"But I hope you'll sing a little more happily," he told Rusty, "because I don't like to hear people complaining--and neither does my wife."