18 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



night. As the husband and son had gone out, she 

 might have thought it a proper time to improve the 

 state of one whom she evidently considered to be a 

 lost sheep. I had more than enough of whirlwinds 

 and chariots, as well as of visions, whilst I lived with 

 them. 



The robin, the woodman's companion, naturally 

 comes in for his full share of folk-lore : he cries 

 when things look "peaked/ 5 when, for instance, 

 in certain changes of the atmosphere before hard 

 weather sets in, the buds on the leafless trees 

 stand out like sharp points the beech -tree tips 

 particularly. Directly the leaves are off the trees, 

 you see preparations making for the coming spring- 

 time. 



" You can't hide from a robin ; they're bound to 

 find ye out," they say. This is very true : the bird 

 will surely come to you in the most out-of-the-way 

 places. "Don't ye see they got to do it; they 

 comes to see if any little children wants happin' up 

 with leaves again. No matter who 'tis, they feeds 

 a robin when he comes ; an' he knows what's comin' 

 when he cries to ye." All birds being sure indica- 

 tors by their cries and movements as to what the 



