What the Blackbird said: A story in four chirps
()
About this ebook
Related to What the Blackbird said
Related ebooks
The Story of a Dewdrop Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBirds, Illustrated by Color Photography, Vol. 1, No. 3 March 1897 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHampshire Days Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFeatherland How the Birds lived at Greenlawn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMasters of the Guild Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife on the Wing: A Bird Chronicle from the pages of The Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBirds and their nests Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Watcher in The Woods Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Birds in a Village (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5More Tales in the Land of Nursery Rhyme Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBy Airship to Ophir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLooking for Lough Ine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Song of the Cardinal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDusty Star Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Badger: A Monograph Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParables from Flowers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTales of the birds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Song of the Cardinal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Snow White Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWoodland Paths Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSanta Claus Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Green Forest Fairy Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Naturalist's Bedside Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Curious Book of Birds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Indian Fairy Book: From the Original Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life and Adventures of Santa Claus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrlando Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of Prince Fairyfoot (Stories from the Lost Fairy-Book, Re-told by the Child Who Read Them) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSnow-White, or The House in the Wood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reference For You
The Emotion Thesaurus (Second Edition): A Writer's Guide to Character Expression Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51001 First Lines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bored Games: 100+ In-Person and Online Games to Keep Everyone Entertained Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robert's Rules For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Show, Don't Tell: How to Write Vivid Descriptions, Handle Backstory, and Describe Your Characters’ Emotions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51,001 Facts that Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Sign Language Book: American Sign Language Made Easy... All new photos! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn Sign Language in a Hurry: Grasp the Basics of American Sign Language Quickly and Easily Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorites, and Forgotten Games Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMythology 101: From Gods and Goddesses to Monsters and Mortals, Your Guide to Ancient Mythology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Executor and Trustee Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to Estate and Trust Administration Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 365 Bullet Guide: Organize Your Life Creatively, One Day at a Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buddhism 101: From Karma to the Four Noble Truths, Your Guide to Understanding the Principles of Buddhism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5THE EMOTIONAL WOUND THESAURUS: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5U.S. History 101: Historic Events, Key People, Important Locations, and More! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for What the Blackbird said
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
What the Blackbird said - Hannah Jane Locker-Lampson
Hannah Jane Locker-Lampson
What the Blackbird said
A story in four chirps
Published by Good Press, 2022
EAN 4064066160593
Table of Contents
CHIRP THE FIRST.
CHIRP THE SECOND. spring.
CHIRP THE THIRD. summer.
CHIRP THE FOURTH. autumn.
CHIRP THE FIRST.
Table of Contents
TThe winter of 1878 was certainly an unusually dreary one, and so thought a remarkably fine young Blackbird, as he perched one morning on the bare bough of a spreading lime-tree, whose last brown leaf had fallen to the ground some weeks before.
With the exception of the Scotch firs and other fortunate evergreens, there was nothing to be seen on all sides but leafless branches standing out sharply against the cold, grey sky. The ground was frozen, and entirely covered with snow, for there had been a heavy fall during the night. The way-marks of 2 field and road were obliterated, all was one sheet of dazzling whiteness. Here and there a little mound marked the spot where a flower-bed lay buried, and there was one narrow path where the snow was thickly piled on either side, for it had been partially swept from the centre, which showed traces of the bright brown gravel below.
The Blackbird was contemplating this landscape in a discontented and unhappy frame of mind. He was, as we have just said, a remarkably fine young bird. His plumage was of a glossy blackness, with which not even a raven’s could vie; his bright eyes looked even brighter as they gleamed from the deep yellow rims which surrounded them, and his bill resembled the polished shaft of an early crocus.
At the time at which my story begins, this Blackbird was about eight months old, and usually he was not a little vain of his appearance. On this particular morning, however, he did not feel at all so proud of himself, or especially pleased with any one or anything. He had passed the long night in a wood hard by, and had been benumbed with cold.
He had tucked his head first under one wing, and 3 then under the other, but it had been of no use, the cutting wind had penetrated even his thick warm feathers, and had ruffled them in a way which had sorely discomposed him, in body as well as in mind.
Then again, all through the night he had been exceedingly put out by little cold wet dabs which kept continually falling on his back. The Blackbird had changed his position––he had done it several times: he had moved from a birch to an elm, and then to a beech-tree. But it was of no avail, the little cold droppings seemed to pursue him wherever he went, and it was not till quite late in the night that he found real shelter, and got a little rest in a thick mantle of ivy which completely covered a wall near the stables.
What were these cold droppings? He could not imagine. He knew well enough they were not rain; rain always made a sharp pelting noise as it struck against the trees. But there had been no such sound, for, with the exception of the occasional sighing of the wind, the night had been a singularly noiseless one. What then could this cold, soft moisture be?
4
The Blackbird could not at all understand it, but as he was well sheltered, and soon got warm in the ivy, he fell asleep and forgot all about it.
The Blackbird on a small white hillock.
The next morning, however, when he woke up and peeped forth from his green canopy, he was much astonished by the sight which met his eyes. Everything was white! The green fields were gone, the lawn where he found his worms, the flower-beds where he caught his insects,––all had disappeared, and a broad, white, sparkling covering lay over everything. What was it? what could it mean?
The Blackbird had no one to explain it all to him, so he thought he would just take a short flight and find out for himself. He stretched his wings and skimmed away over the white ground, and then he thought he would rest for a while on a small white hillock.
No sooner, however, had his little dusky brown feet touched the surface of the snow, than he found he was gradually sinking down, down into a soft, but very cold white bed. With a shrill cry of alarm he flew up again, and did not stop until he alighted on the bough of the lime-tree where we were first introduced to him. What was it? What wonderful and 5 terrible new thing was this? and where was he to go for his breakfast?
He was sitting in a very melancholy frame of mind, stretching out first one foot and then the other, when his attention was arrested by a flood of joyous song poured forth from above, and looking up, he saw a bright-breasted