shouldn't have babies. They
were wild to have babies. They talked of nothing else. No sooner had
they got down the hill from visiting the cave than they turned round and
started to climb back again. They kept urging the Woman to be frank with
them and to confess how her baby had happened. Of course she couldn't
confess, seeing that she didn't know herself. All that she knew was that
she hadn't felt well since she had eaten the forbidden fruit in Eden
and, now that the baby had been born, she felt completely restored. Such
information wasn't of much use to the animals, for the forbidden fruit
grew inside of Eden and the gates of Eden were locked. At last the Man
had to interfere to prevent her from being bothered. He stuck up a
notice at the entrance to the cave, _December 25th. Mother And Child
Both Doing Well. Don't knock._ When the animals came to call, he
prevented them from entering by explaining gravely that having a baby
was a very touch-and-go business and left one decidedly exhausted. To
have listened to him you might have supposed that he'd spent all his
life in rocking cradles, whereas he was such a novice that, had it not
been for the elephant, he wouldn't even have known that babies were
called babies. Like all fathers he deceived himself that there was
nothing he didn't know about baby-lore. What was very much more
surprising, by whispering and looking secretive he managed to impress
the animals with his new-found learning and paternal importance.

But what had happened to the robin while all these excitements were
going on? The last time we mentioned him he was sitting perched on the
Woman's shoulder, singing her his very finest song.

The robin, though you may not have heard it, has always been a most
religious bird. He had made up his mind, the moment the Man had come
back, that the first thing to be done was to go and tell God. The chief
difficulty about accomplishing this errand was due to God Himself; as
you will remember, in returning to Heaven God had destroyed the sky-blue
stairs behind Him. But the robin had wings; moreover he was an optimist.
He hoped that by fluttering up and up he would be able to reach Heaven
in safety. The reason that he had never tried before was because he had
been afraid that God would not want him. He felt sure of his welcome now
that he was the bearer of such glad tidings.

He found the journey much harder than he had expected. There were parts
of it that were so bitt