is ill, and cannot run and play
as I do, so I should love to please her, and the cowslips are all out.
I'll go early and get a hat full, and not run away if she comes."

Betty was so full of this delightful plan that she went early to bed,
but did not forget to lean out of her window and peep through the roses
into the nest where Mamma Wren brooded over her babies while the papa
roosted near by with his head under his wing.

"Good-night, dear birds; thank you very much," whispered Betty; but they
did not mind her, and only twittered sleepily as if a dream disturbed
them.

"Up, up, little maid;
Day has begun.
Welcome with us
Our father, the sun!"

sang the larks, as they rose from the grass and waked Betty with their
sweet voices.

"Tweet, tweet, it is morning;
Please get up, mamma.
Do bring us some breakfast,
Our dearest papa,"

twittered the young wrens, with their mouths wide open.

"Click, clack, here's another day;
Stretch our wings and fly away
Over the wood and over the hills,
Seeking food for our babies' bills;"

and away went the storks with their long legs trailing out behind, while
the little ones popped up their heads and stared at the sun.

"Cluck! cluck!
Here's good luck:
Old yellow-legs
Has laid two eggs,
All fresh and sweet,
For our girl to eat,"

cackled the gray hens, picking about the shed where the cock stood
crowing loudly.

"Coo! coo! coo!
Come, bathe in the dew;
For the rosy dawn shines
Through our beautiful pines.
So kiss, every one,
For a new day's begun,"

called the doves softly to one another as they billed and cooed and
tripped about on their little pink feet.

Betty looked and listened at her window, and was so happy she kissed the
roses nodding at her, then ran down to make the porridge, singing like a
bird herself. When her father had gone away to work she made haste to
milk Daisy, sweep the floor, and make all tidy for the day before she
went to wait for the Princess.

"Now, you eat your breakfast here while I get the cowslips; for this is
a pretty place to be in, and I want you to look very nice when the fine
people come," said Betty, as she left the cow to feed in a little shady
nook by the road where the grass was green and an old oak made pleasant
shade.

The cowslips were all open and as yellow as gold, so Betty made a great
nosegay of some and a sp