"You naughty little owls," cried the Mother Owl's voice, "what do you mean by digging your little sister?""I didn't," cried Screecher and Flipperty, together."Ouch! Ouch!
There's something sharp in the nest."
"My dear," said old Father Owl's voice from the branch outside, "can't you keep those children quiet?""Quiet indeed!" cried old Mother Owl."Here is the nest all set full of thorns, and you expect them to be quiet.No wonder the poor children make a noise.Just you come here and help me get the thorns out.""Thorns!" cried Father Owl."How did they get in there?""That's more than I can tell," said the Mother Owl."Perhaps it's old Granddaddy Thistletop's doings.I thought those fairies had gone away, but they must be down there still.I'll just fly down and see, and if they are, I'll make them sorry enough."With that, down flew the Mother Owl, and putting one big yellow eye at the kitchen window, she looked in."Who-o-o! you fairies," she cried, "are you in there still?"At first, her eye looked so very big and yellow that Teddy was frightened.Then he remembered that he was a gamblesome elf, so he made a face at her, and began to hop up and down and twirl about on his toes, singing:
"I won't go away! I won't go away!
I'll stay all night, and I'll stay all day.
Oh, my cap and toes! I'm a gamblesome elf.
Old owl, you had better look out for yourself."The old owl looked in for a moment, and then without a word she flew back to her nest as fast as she could.Teddy ran over to the chimney and listened.He heard the old owl brush into the hollow above, and then he heard her saying in a frightened voice: "Husband, husband, what do you think! A gamblesome elf has come to live in old Granddaddy Thistletop's house.""Oh, my tail-feathers!" cried old Father Owl aghast."This is bad business; we'll be having trouble and mischief all the time now.It would have been better if we had let old Thistletop stay.What shall we do?""Do! do!" cried old Mother Owl in an exasperated voice; "what is there to do, I should like to know, but to get the children away? I wouldn't keep them in the same tree with that gamblesome elf--no, not a night longer--for all the mice you could offer me.""But how can we get them away?" asked old Father Owl."They can't fly.""No, we can't fly!" cried all the little owls."Oh, what shall we do?
Ow! Ow!"
"Can't fly! They've got to fly," said Mother Owl, "and you and I must help them.Back to the old tree we go this very night."After that there was a great to-do up in the hollow.Teddy watched it all lying on his stomach in the door of the knot-hole, for it was moonlight by this time and almost as bright as day.
The little owls got up on the edge of the hollow and there they sat, teetering and flapping and afraid to fly.Their mother grew crosser and crosser, and at last she got back of them and gave them a push, and then down they went, fluttering and tumbling and bumping into the tree-trunks.
The Father Owl sailed about from branch to branch, calling, "Who-o-o-o!
Who-o-o! Come on! Spread your wings and go like this.Who-o-o-o!" and then he would sail on to another bush; but the Mother Owl flew down beside them and showed them how to spread their wings, and pushed them with her beak, and gradually the fluttered farther and farther into the darkling woods, their cries growing fainter and then dying away until all Teddy could hear was the Father Owl's voice, very faint and far away."Who-o-o! Who-o-o!" Then it too died away, and the woods were still.
After a while the moon set and Teddy began to feel very sleepy.
Then a little breeze sprang up; the light grew clearer and the east was red, and at last the sun peeped over the top of the hill opposite.
As the first beam struck old Granddaddy Thistletop's tree, Teddy started to his knees, gazing out down the hill-slope.There were the four black-and-yellow butterflies flying directly toward the tree as fast as their wings could carry them, and on the two foremost ones were old Granddaddy Thistletop himself and the beautiful Rosine.
They drew rein at the knot-hole, and the old fairy, skipping from his butterfly and never pausing to fasten it, tottered straight to Teddy and threw his arms about his neck."Our preserver!" he cried."And to think I should have called you a gamblesome elf! But never mind; I will make it up to you."Suddenly he turned and caught the blushing Rosine by the hand."Here!"he cried; "she is yours, and you shall live with us, and learn to turn your toes up, and we will all be happy together.""But--but--" cried Teddy, starting back, "don't you know? I'm not an elf at all.I'm---"*******"Well, well! Here we are back again," said the Counterpane Fairy, "and stiff enough I feel after all that journeying.""Oh! wasn't it funny?" said Teddy, and his knees shook with laughter.
"They really thought I was a gamblesome elf.""Take care!" cried the fairy."There you are shaking your knees again.
I think, my dear, that if you were to lower them very, very carefully, the hill would not be quite so steep.""Yes, ma'am, I'll be careful," said Teddy, beginning very slowly to slide his feet down in the bed.Suddenly, the door-knob turned, and Teddy gave a start;--quick as a flash the Counterpane Fairy had disappeared.
His mother was coming in carrying his breakfast and a little vase of violets on a tray.
"Why, my darling, what a bright, happy face!" she said."I think my little boy must be feeling better this morning."
