登陆注册
26270600000018

第18章 CHAPTER 4(1)

"So dear! So dear!" crooned the Cardinal

She had taken possession of the sumac. The location was her selection and he loudly applauded her choice. She placed the first twig, and after examining it carefully, he spent the day carrying her others just as much alike as possible. If she used a dried grass blade, he carried grass blades until she began dropping them on the ground. If she worked in a bit of wild grape-vine bark, he peeled grape-vines until she would have no more. It never occurred to him that he was the largest cardinal in the woods, in those days, and he had forgotten that he wore a red coat. She was not a skilled architect. Her nest certainly was a loose ramshackle affair; but she had built it, and had allowed him to help her. It was hers; and he improvised a paean in its praise. Every morning he perched on the edge of the nest and gazed in songless wonder at each beautiful new egg; and whenever she came to brood she sat as if entranced, eyeing her treasures in an ecstasy of proud possession.

Then she nestled them against her warm breast, and turned adoring eyes toward the Cardinal. If he sang from the dogwood, she faced that way. If he rocked on the wild grape-vine, she turned in her nest. If he went to the corn field for grubs, she stood astride her eggs and peered down, watching his every movement with unconcealed anxiety. The Cardinal forgot to be vain of his beauty; she delighted in it every hour of the day. Shy and timid beyond belief she had been during her courtship; but she made reparation by being an incomparably generous and devoted mate.

And the Cardinal! He was astonished to find himself capable of so much and such varied feeling. It was not enough that he brooded while she went to bathe and exercise. The daintiest of every morsel he found was carried to her. When she refused to swallow another particle, he perched on a twig close by the nest many times in a day; and with sleek feathers and lowered crest, gazed at her in silent worshipful adoration.

Up and down the river bank he flamed and rioted. In the sumac he uttered not the faintest "Chip!" that might attract attention.

He was so anxious to be inconspicuous that he appeared only half his real size. Always on leaving he gave her a tender little peck and ran his beak the length of her wing--a characteristic caress that he delighted to bestow on her.

If he felt that he was disturbing her too often, he perched on the dogwood and sang for life, and love, and happiness. His music was in a minor key now. The high, exultant, ringing notes of passion were mellowed and subdued. He was improvising cradle songs and lullabies. He was telling her how he loved her, how he would fight for her, how he was watching over her, how he would signal if any danger were approaching, how proud he was of her, what a perfect nest she had built, how beautiful he thought her eggs, what magnificent babies they would produce. Full of tenderness, melting with love, liquid with sweetness, the Cardinal sang to his patient little brooding mate: "So dear! So dear!"

The farmer leaned on his corn-planter and listened to him intently. "I swanny! If he hasn't changed his song again, an' this time I'm blest if I can tell what he's saying!" Every time the Cardinal lifted his voice, the clip of the corn-planter ceased, and Abram hung on the notes and studied them over.

One night he said to his wife: "Maria, have you been noticin' the redbird of late? He's changed to a new tune, an' this time I'm completely stalled. I can't for the life of me make out what he's saying. S'pose you step down to-morrow an' see if you can catch it for me. I'd give a pretty to know!"

Maria felt flattered. She always had believed that she had a musical ear. Here was an opportunity to test it and please Abram at the same time. She hastened her work the following morning, and very early slipped along the line fence. Hiding behind the oak, with straining ear and throbbing heart, she eagerly listened. "Clip, clip," came the sound of the planter, as Abram's dear old figure trudged up the hill. "Chip! Chip!" came the warning of the Cardinal, as he flew to his mate.

He gave her some food, stroked her wing, and flying to the dogwood, sang of the love that encompassed him. As he trilled forth his tender caressing strain, the heart of the listening woman translated as did that of the brooding bird.

With shining eyes and flushed cheeks, she sped down the fence.

Panting and palpitating with excitement, she met Abram half-way on his return trip. Forgetful of her habitual reserve, she threw her arms around his neck, and drawing his face to hers, she cried: "Oh, Abram! I got it! I got it! I know what he's saying! Oh, Abram, my love! My own! To me so dear! So dear!"

"So dear! So dear!" echoed the Cardinal.

The bewilderment in Abram's face melted into comprehension. He swept Maria from her feet as he lifted his head.

"On my soul! You have got it, honey! That's what he's saying, plain as gospel! I can tell it plainer'n anything he's sung yet, now I sense it."

He gathered Maria in his arms, pressed her head against his breast with a trembling old hand, while the face he turned to the morning was beautiful.

"I wish to God," he said quaveringly, "'at every creature on earth was as well fixed as me an' the redbird!" Clasping each other, they listened with rapt faces, as, mellowing across the corn field, came the notes of the Cardinal: "So dear! So dear!"

After that Abram's devotion to his bird family became a mild mania. He carried food to the top rail of the line fence every day, rain or shine, with the same regularity that he curried and fed Nancy in the barn. From caring for and so loving the Cardinal, there grew in his tender old heart a welling flood of sympathy for every bird that homed on his farm.

同类推荐
  • 陆稼书先生问学录

    陆稼书先生问学录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 题河州赤岸桥

    题河州赤岸桥

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 肿胀门

    肿胀门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 上清后圣道君列记

    上清后圣道君列记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 寄修睦上人

    寄修睦上人

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 机器人作战故事(世界科幻故事精选丛书)

    机器人作战故事(世界科幻故事精选丛书)

    科幻故事,主要是描写想象中的科学或技术对社会或个人的影响的虚构性文学作品。科幻故事是西方近代文学的一种新体裁,诞生于19世纪,是欧洲工业文明崛起后特殊的文化现象之一。人类在19世纪,全面进入以科学发明和技术革命为主导的时代后,一切关注人类未来命运的文艺题材,都不可避免地要表现未来的科学技术。
  • 谁都能读懂的智慧禅故事

    谁都能读懂的智慧禅故事

    禅学不是阿弥陀佛,不是嘛呢叭弥吽,而是人生的大智慧!让孩子掌握书本之外的人生智慧。故事对孩子的吸引是成人所不能懂的,而如何让孩子在听故事的过程中获得大道理、大智慧,则是家长应该考虑的。让道理幻化成孩子的行动,比简单重复的说教,更有意义。《谁都能读懂的智慧禅故事》恰好迎合了这一点,家长以讲故事的方式和孩子沟通,既能调动孩子的兴趣,还能加深亲子间的感情,更能让孩子对故事所蕴含的道理,记忆更深刻,拥有别样的智慧人生!《谁都能读懂的智慧禅故事》由喆帆编著。
  • 穿越之傲娇王妃哪里逃

    穿越之傲娇王妃哪里逃

    她因为一次暗杀活动,被同门兼好友算计,丧命于此,醒来穿越到了一个历史上从来没有的朝代。什么,我是草包美人,谁说的?我让他求生不得,求死不能,闯皇宫,斗庶妹,心也不知不觉沦陷了
  • 悬星记

    悬星记

    高见不喜争斗,更不喜杀戮,但却被召唤到了争斗频繁,杀戮不断的悬星世界。谁说就得以武压人,谁说就得装逼杀人,就算真的要杀,我也不亲自动手。书友群:300062251
  • 诸葛亮文集译注

    诸葛亮文集译注

    纵观诸葛亮的一生,他不但为祖国的统一大业导演了一幕幕威武雄壮的活剧,创造了彪炳千秋的业绩,而且以其精辟的著述,丰富了我国思想史的宝库。诸葛亮的著作,涉及内容十分广泛,既有论及治国富民的篇章,又有谈论发展生产的内容;既有治国治军的宏论,又有举贤斥佞的表文;既有畅谈外交、形势的文章,又有提出战略决策的雄文。其中,有关治军、用兵的论述,又成为诸葛亮著作中引人注目的、闪耀着朴素辩证法思想光辉的瑰宝。罗志霖译注的《诸葛亮文集译注》即对诸葛亮的著作进行了翻译和注释,题解着重介绍时代背景、著作内容,并简要揭示其思想意义。
  • 三国之曹操

    三国之曹操

    哎,三国幻想故事,光荣的三国志打多了的YY产物吧。
  • 影响女人40岁后的55个转折点

    影响女人40岁后的55个转折点

    40岁时的很多想法、做法直接影响后半生的生活质量,《影响女人40岁后的55个转折点》告诉你:40岁的很多事情直接决定你能否收获一个圆满的人生!每个人都会怕老,成长过程是每个人都要经历的,其实每个年龄阶段都有不同的美,关键是要看你自己如何面对。烂漫少女会说:“到40岁我就不活了。”其实她们到了40岁也一样活得好好的。没准儿心里还在偷着乐:“没想到到了40岁,我这朵鲜花才彻底盛放……”每个年龄段都有每个年龄段的美好,好好享受当下的生活,才不枉当一回女人。
  • 复仇公主的水晶恋

    复仇公主的水晶恋

    他是家世优越的大少爷,她与他有一面知缘,彼此有着方自己最爱的东西,这就是他们的定情信物。几年后,他寻找她,她因为小时候后事变成了冷酷无情的杀手,与他又有婚约·····
  • 圣音美妙邂逅

    圣音美妙邂逅

    羽欣与圣恩的浪漫夏日邂逅在校园,希望大家喜欢
  • 地府捉鬼团

    地府捉鬼团

    天知道是不是倒霉催的,我成了彩票被抽中了!一夜之间有了一件奇特的工作,不做还不行,因为给我工作的那个家伙我惹不起。无奈之下只能认命,从此过上了不得不上赶着去见鬼的日子。