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The Larks in the Cornfield There
was once a family of little Larks who lived with their mother in a nest in
a cornfield. When the corn
was ripe the mother Lark watched very carefully to see if there were any
sign of the reapers' coming, for she knew that when they came their sharp
knives would cut down the nest and hurt the baby Larks.
So every day, when she went out for food, she told the little Larks
to look and listen very closely to everything that went on, and to tell her all they saw and heard when she came home. One
day when she came home the little Larks were much frightened. "Oh,
Mother, dear Mother," they said, "you must move us away
to-night! The farmer was in
the field to-day, and he said, `The corn is ready to cut; we must call in
the neighbors to help.' And
then he told his son to go out to-night and ask all the neighbors to come
and reap the corn to-morrow." The
mother Lark laughed. "Don't
be frightened," she said; "if he waits for his neighbors to reap
the corn we shall have plenty of time to move; tell me what he says
to-morrow."
"Don't
worry," said the mother Lark; "the uncles and cousins have
plenty of reaping to do for themselves; we'll not move yet." The
third night, when the mother Lark came home, the baby Larks said,
"Mother, dear, the farmer came to the field to-day, and when he
looked at the corn he was quite angry; he said, `This will never do! The
corn is getting too ripe; it's no use to wait for our relatives, we shall
have to cut this corn ourselves.' And
then he called his son and said, `Go out to-night and hire reapers, and
to-morrow we will begin to cut.'"
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The
next night the little Larks were quite trembling with fear; the moment
their mother got home they cried out, "Mother, you must surely move
us to-night!
"Well,"
said the mother, "that is another story; when a man begins to do his
own business, instead of asking somebody else to do it, things get done.