whenever he ventured to make a remark, 
and said peevishly she was tired to death 
of hearing him cry ‘cuckoo’ so often. ‘I 
wish you could say something else,’ she 
said at last. As it happened, ‘ cuckoo’ 
was all the poor bird could say, and no 
doubt it was rather trying to hear him 
say it so often. Up to now he had been 
so proud of being able to say it at all— 
for it was more than any of the other 
birds could do—that he had never 
thought of trying to say anything else. 
But now he was quite upset at the idea 
of not being considered perfect, and 
went away by himself to practise. But 
no, he had said ‘cuckoo’ so often that it 
seemed quite impossible to say anything 
else ; all he could do after some weeks’ 
practising was to say ‘cuck-cuckoo’ 
instead -of only ‘cuckoo.’ 
203 
