Exciting Adventures of Mister Robert Robin | Page 2

their own tree, and were as busy
as could be building a nice new nest.
When Gerald Pox, and Melancthon Coon, and Jim Crow, and
Wellington Woodchuck, and Billy Rabbit, and Major Partridge saw
Robert Robin flying through the bare woods, or heard him singing his
clear notes from the top of his big basswood tree, they would say to
themselves, "Robert Robin is back from the south, and Spring will soon
be here." And the farmer's wife would say, "I heard a robin singing, it
will soon be Spring!" Then she would get her box of garden seeds
down from the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard and look to see if she
had some tomato seeds, and celery seeds, and pepper seeds, and
cabbage seeds to plant in a box by the south window.
Then it would not be long before the snow banks in the gully were all
melted, and the farmer would be fixing his fences and getting ready to
turn his stock out to pasture, and the farmer's wife's celery plants, and
all her other kinds of plants would be up, and Mister Swallow, and
Mister Swift, and Mister Bob-o-link, and all the other Mister Birds and
their wives would be coming back north, and it would be plain to
everybody that Spring was here and that Summer was on the way.
Even the big basswood tree seemed to wait for Robert Robin, and
seemed to miss him when he was away. All Winter the beautiful tree
waved his bare branches in the air, and when the frosty snow sparkled

on the meadows, and the stars were shining in the winter sky, the
chilling wind swept through the woods, and the branches of the tall
basswood made a sound like a sigh. But almost as quickly as Robert
Robin returned, the buds of the big basswood swelled with the green of
new leaves, and soon the great tree was no longer bare, but dressed
from his foot to his highest twig in broad leaves that fluttered in the
summer breezes and made a sound like the whispering of children.
Early every morning as soon as the sun began to light the east, Mister
Robert Robin was wide awake, and one of the first sounds that woke
the woods in the very early morning was Robert Robin's morning song.
From the highest branch of his tall basswood tree he would sing his
"hurry up song," and his clear cheery voice would echo through all the
woods.
"Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up! It is time,-- It is time To get
up--to get up! Hurry up! Hurry up!"
Then Mister Tom Squirrel would come bounding out of his bed, and
Major Partridge would start strutting around, and Mister Wren would
shake the dew from his feathers and begin to sing, and in a few minutes
all the birds and animals that had been sleeping all night would be
frisking and flying around, the sun would begin to shine, the dew
would go away, and it would be daylight in the woods.
After Robert Robin had sung everybody out of bed, he would get his
breakfast, and then he would be ready for his day's work.
Robert Robin did like to sing, but Mrs. Robin did not care to sing. She
was a very quiet sort of person, and did not like to appear in public. She
would much rather sit on her pretty greenish-blue eggs. She sat on them
to keep them warm so that the little baby robins that were inside the
eggs would grow to be strong enough to break the blue shells, and
come out and grow up to be big robins.
One morning after Robert Robin had finished singing his "hurry up
song" and the woods were ringing with the chatter of squirrels, the

songs of other birds, and the "Chip! Chip! Chip!" of Mister Gabriel
Chipmunk, Robert Robin was just going to get his breakfast, when
suddenly the squirrels stopped chattering, and the other birds stopped
singing. It was still in the woods, except for Mister Chipmunk, who
was sitting on a stump and screaming his "Chip! Chip! Chip!"
"There is danger around!" thought Robert Robin. "Something has
frightened the birds and squirrels!" So Robert Robin flew down where
Mrs. Robin was sitting on her nest.
Robert Robin perched on one of the big branches near Mrs. Robin, and
then he sat perfectly still.
Jeremiah Yellowbird was sitting on another branch, and he was sitting
perfectly still. Neither Robert Robin nor Jeremiah Yellowbird could tell
what had frightened the other birds and the squirrels, but both of them
were looking and listening with all their might.
A shadow fell from above, and Robert Robin cocked his head on one
side and looking