All went well that night with the Owl. He watched the mouse hole and
did not allow the little brown bird to so much as put his bill out.
When it came to be day, though, the Owl was tired, and he closed,
first, one eye, and then the other eye. There he was, fast asleep, and
out hopped the little brown bird who had a name now, because he was
the little Hedge King.
It was a great disappointment to the other birds to be obliged to
recognize so humble a little brown bird as their king, and they blamed
the Owl for it. That is why he still sleeps in the daytime now, and
looks about only at night. And that is why, also, he is such an enemy
of the mice, continually hunting them in their holes.
But the little brown bird who sings alone in the hedges really made
himself king of the birds. He has two names now, Hedge King, and
Wren.
SUMMER
THE LITTLE RED PRINCESS
Every one knew that she was a princess because she wandered all day
through the castle without doing any work. It was a very busy kingdom
indeed even if it was so tiny. It was only about two inches high above
the meadow, not nearly as tall as the grass blades that grew all
around it. The grass looked like a forest of trees to the little red
princess, and a wild forget-me-not that bent down over the castle made
her sky, for it was almost as blue and nearly as large to her wee
eyes.
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