62 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



be. Jimmy and the donkey fed together and slept together 

 a whole year. In cold weather when the donkey found a 

 protected place to lie, Jimmy sat at her side or even 

 warmed his feet by sitting on her woolly coat. 



Remembering the experience of the first spring, Jimmy^s 

 wing was cropped every year early in February, lest he 

 leave when his own kind began to come north. 



A new source of unhappiness came into Jimmy's life 

 when the donkey was sold and taken to Nebraska to work 

 at plowing. Jimmy was utterly disconsolate for a few 

 days, and wandered over the pasture all day long, honking 

 from sheer loneliness. One evening a flock of geese heard 

 him and spent the night with him eating the young ten- 

 der blue-grass. "When they left shortly after sun-up, poor 

 Jimmy tried his best to go along, but his poor cropped 

 wing would not permit. After this, never a honking flock 

 passed over in his hearing that he did not spread his 

 wings and try to follow. 



One day Aunt Leah bought two buxom young gray geese 

 and brought them home. They were not adopted by the 

 flock but soon got over into what had been the donkey 

 pasture. In vain Jimmy had tried for days to find his 

 beloved donkey. When his own kind had stopped with 

 him, he had spent one blissful night dreaming of cool 

 lakes, succulent food, and a flock of goslings in the far 

 north. But something was wrong; try as he would, he 

 could not rise high in the air, and at best could fly only 

 in short circles and tumble to the ground. Every day he 

 tried, always hoping that when the next flock passed over 

 he could join them, but already the maples were coming 

 into leaf and no more wild geese were going by. 



Seeing these homesick strangers wander into his realm. 



