190 More Tales of the Birds 



her company than those unfeeling fowls and 

 ducks ; and EKmelech, who was stupid from 

 his fall, made no attempt to escape, but took 

 her advances in a grateful spirit. 



This was how Selina came by her Starling, 

 and with the natural instinct she possessed of 

 attracting all living creatures to her, she very 

 soon made a friend of it. It was young enough 

 to feel no shyness for the quiet little old 

 woman : it was hardly out of its nursery, and 

 had only just begun to learn to scramble up 

 to the top of the chimney from the ledge on 

 which the nest was placed, when it took a 

 sudden panic, failed to reach the top, and came 

 scrambling down into a new world. 



For some time she kept Elimelech in his 

 cage, but gradually she accustomed him to 

 shift for himself. He would sit on her 

 shoulder as she went about her household 

 work, and when she went into the hovel he 

 would perch on Fan's back. Fan did not 

 seem to mind, and very soon Elimelech took 

 to roosting there, and a strangely devoted 

 friendship was established between them. 



