18 THE SKYLARK'S SPURS

THE UNKIND FAIRY

There was once a fairy who had one very bad habit. She liked to find fault with everybody.

One day when she lay down in a meadow to take a nap, she heard a deep sigh. Peeping out, she saw a young skylark sitting near her in the grass.

“What troubles you? ”asked the fairy.

“Oh, I am so unhappy, ”replied the poor lark, “I want to build a nest, but I have no mate.”

“Why don't you look for a mate, then? ”said the fairy, laughing at him. “Do you expect one to come and look for you? Fly up into the sky and sing a beautiful song, and then perhaps some pretty bird will hear you. If you tell her that you will help her to build a nest, and that you will sing to her all day long, maybe she will become your mate.”

“Oh, I don't like to fly up, ”said the lark, “I am so ugly. If I were a robin, with red feathers on my breast, I should not mind showing my feet. But I am only a poor skylark, and I know that I shall never be able to get a mate.”

“But you should try, anyway.”said the fairy.

“Oh, but you don't know, ”said the lark, “that if I fly up, my feet will be seen; and no other bird has claws like mine. They are so long that they would frighten anyone. And yet, Fairy, I never harm anyone with my long claws.”

“Let me look at them.”said the fairy.

The lark lifted up one of his feet, which he had kept hidden in the long grass.

“Are you sure that you never use your claws to fight with? ”asked the fairy.

“I never fought in my life, ”said the lark, “yet these claws grow longer and longer.”

“Well, I am sorry for you, ”said the fairy, “but I think that you must be a quarrelsome bird, or you would not have such long spurs.”

“That is just what I am always afraid people will say.”said the poor lark.

“Well, nothing is given to us unless it is to be of some use, ”said the fairy, “You would not have wings unless you used them for flying. So you would not have spurs unless you used them for fighting.”

“I am sure I never fight, ”said the lark, “So I thought you might be willing to say to your friends that I am not a quarrelsome bird.”

“No, ”said the unkind fairy, “I still think those spurs are meant to fight with. Good morning.”

THE SKYLARK WINS A MATE

After the fairy had left, the poor lark sat quietly in the grass for a long time. By and by a grasshopper came chirping up and tried to comfort him.

“I heard what the unkind fairy said to you. But I have known you a long time, and I have never seen you fight. I will tell everyone that you are a very good-tempered bird.”

The skylark was so pleased at these kind words that he flew up into the air. The higher he went, the sweeter was the song that he sang.

“I never heard such a beautiful song in my life—never! ”cried a pretty brown lark.

“It was sung by my friend, the skylark, ”said the grasshopper,“He is a very good-tempered bird, and he wants a mate.”

“Hush! ”said the pretty brown lark, “I want to hear the end of that wonderful song.”She held her breath while she listened.

“Well done, my friend! ”said the grasshopper, when the skylark came down again. Then he told him how much the brown lark had been pleased with his song. A moment later, he took the poor skylark to see her.

The skylark thought that never before had he seen such a pretty bird. “I hope she will not be afraid of my long spurs.”he said to himself.

When she told him how much she loved music, he sprang up again into the blue sky and sang even more sweetly than before. How happy he was to think that he could please her!

The grasshopper began to praise the singer, and to say what a kind, cheerful bird he was. And so after a while, when the skylark asked the brown lark to become his mate, she made his heart glad by saying, “Yes.”

“I do not mind your spurs, ”she said, “I should not like you to have short claws like other birds, although I cannot say exactly why, for they do not seem to be of any use.”

WHAT THE SKYLARK'S SPURS WERE FOR

After a time, the skylark and the brown lark built a little nest in the grass. The skylark was so happy that he almost forgot about his long spurs.

But the unkind fairy did not forget about them. One afternoon she happened to see the lark's friend. “How do you do, Grasshopper? ”she asked.

“Thank you, I am very well and very happy, ”answered the grasshopper, “People are so kind to me.”

“How is your quarrelsome friend, the lark? ”asked the fairy.

“He is not quarrelsome, ”replied the grasshopper, “and I wish you would not say that he is.”

“Oh, well, ”said the fairy, laughing, “the lark does not wear those long spurs for nothing.”

The grasshopper did not argue with the fairy, but said,“Suppose you come and see the eggs that the pretty brown lark has in her nest.”

Off they went together; but what was their surprise to find the little lark trembling and weeping as she sat upon the nest.

“Oh, my pretty eggs! ”said the lark when she saw her visitors,“They will certainly be broken.”

“What is the matter? ”asked the grasshopper. “Dear Grasshopper, ”said the lark, “I have just heard the farmer say that tomorrow morning he will begin to cut the grass in this meadow.”

“It is a great pity, ”said the grasshopper, “that you laid your eggs on the ground! ”

“Larks always do, ”said the little bird, weeping. Neither the grasshopper nor the fairy could do anything to help her.

At last her mate, the skylark, dropped down from the white cloud where he had been singing. In great fright, he asked what the matter was. When they told him, he was very sad, but after a while he lifted his feet and began to look at his long spurs.

“If I had only laid my eggs on the other side of the hedge, ”cried the poor little brown lark, “they would be safe now.”

“My dear, ”said the skylark, “don't be unhappy.”As he said these words, he hopped to the nest, laid the claws of one foot upon the prettiest egg, and clasped it with his long spur. And what do you think he found? The spur exactly fitted the little egg!

“Oh, my good mate! ”cried the mother bird, “do you think that you can carry all the eggs to a safe place? ”

“To be sure I can, ”replied the skylark, beginning slowly and carefully to hop, with the egg in his right foot. “I have always wondered what my spur could be for, and now I see.”

So he hopped along with the egg, until he came to a safe place on the other side of the hedge. There he put it down and came back for the others.

“Hurrah! ”cried the grasshopper, “Lark's spurs forever! ”

The fairy did not have a word to say. She felt very much ashamed of herself, because she had told the skylark that his spurs were meant to fight with. She sat looking on in silence, until the last of the eggs had been carried to the other side of the hedge.

Then the skylark sprang up into the sky again, singing to his proud little mate. He was very happy, because now he knew what his long spurs were for.

(Jean Ingelow)

Word list

mate: husband or wife

quarrelsome: often arguing

praise: to say good things about someone

trembling: shaking

You Practice

A) Answer the following questions.

1) How do you know that the fairy was unkind?

2) What did the fairy say the skylark did with his spurs?

3) How did the grasshopper comfort the skylark?

4) How did the sky lark win a mate?

5) What did the skylark find that his spurs were for?

B) Word groups—Complete the following word groups with words from the story.

1) hands, paws. c _ _ _ _

2) home, den, n _ _ _

3) bush, tree, h _ _ _ _

4) wailing, weeping, c _ _ _ _ _

5) eagle, robin, s _ _ _ _ _ _

C) Opposites—Find words in the reading that mean the opposite of these words.

1) dangerous - s _ _ _

2) sky - g _ _ _ _ _

3) lost - f _ _ _ _

4) end - b _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

5) ugliest - p _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _