,
And Lint-white and Lark,
The Tom-tit and Linnet,
And brisk little Sparrow,
The King-fisher too,
And my own little Goldfinch.

All the Birds in the King's Garden were overjoyed that the Bird that
Follows the Cuckoo did not get into the Cuckoo's Mouth.

"What shall we do for the Boy who prevented the World from coming to
an End?" asked the good-natured Corncrake. She was there too, but I
forgot to mention her.

"Nothing," said the Willy-wagtail. "The Boy who would throw a cap
would throw a stone. Do nothing at all for him."

"I'll sing for him," said the Goldfinch.

"I'll teach him what the Birds say," said the Crow.

"If he knew the Language of the Birds he would be like King Solomon,"
said the Raven.

"Let us make him like King Solomon," said the Goldfinch.

"Yes, yes, yes," said all the Birds in the King's Garden.

The Boy had not gone far when the Crow flew after him and lighted on
his shoulder. The Crow spoke to him in the Boy's own language. The Boy
was surprised. The Crow flew to a standing stone and went on speaking
plain words to him.

"O," said the Boy, "I didn't know you could speak."

"Why shouldn't I know how to speak," said the Crow, "haven't I, for a
hundred years and more, been watching men and listening to their
words? Why shouldn't I be able to speak?"

"And you can speak well, ma'am," said the Boy, not forgetting his
manners.

"You know one language, but I know many languages," said the Crow,
"for I know what People say, and I know what all the Birds say."

The old Crow sat there looking so wise and so friendly that the Boy
began to talk to her at his ease. And after a while the Boy said,
"Ma'am, do you think I could ever learn what the Birds say?"

"You would, if you had me to teach you," said the Crow.

"And will you teach me, ma'am?" said the Boy.

"I will," said the Crow.

Then every day after that the Crow would sit upon the Standing Stone
and the Boy would stand beside it. When the Crow had eaten the boiled
potato that the Boy always brought she would tell him about the
languages of the different Birds. The two were teaching and learning
from day to day, and indeed you might say that the Boy went to school
to the Crow. He learnt the language of this Bird and that Bird, and
as he learnt their languages, many's and many's the good story he
heard them tell each other.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: The Stone of Victory]

The Stone of Vic