They were all singing as if their throats would burst,
but the Prince could hear one soft note above the others, because it
was so clear and sweet. It was the cooing of a little dove who sat in
her cage apart from the others. The Prince thought he had never seen
such a beautiful little dove, as white as snow, and with rose red
feet.
"Why does she sing so much more sweetly than the others?" the Prince
asked, pointing to the little white dove.
The bird seller smiled.
"She sings because of her heart," he said. "The other birds sing in
the sunshine, but look"--he held up the dove's cage, and the Prince
saw that the little white dove had closed, blind eyes. "She sings in
the dark because of her happy heart," the bird seller said.
"May I buy her," the Prince asked, "to give as a valentine to a little
Princess?"
"Oh, I will give her to you," the bird seller said. "Very few people
want to take care of a blind bird."
But the little Princess did. She liked the white dove better than any
of her other valentines. She hung her cage in a pink rose tree in the
sunniest part of the garden, and she often invited the Prince to sit
with her under the tree and listen to the dove's sweet song.
WHY THE DOVE IS ON OUR VALENTINES
A long time ago when there were no white men in our country, but only
Indians who lived in the forest, there was a timid little Indian boy.
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