completely left out of it — didn't know what to do 

 with himself, didn't even have a pipe to smoke — so 

 he just sat on the balcony while Tildy laid the eggs 

 as fast as she could, and sang his very heart out 

 serenading and encouraging her. Spilly Willy no 

 longer had the freedom of the home as he had when 

 there was house furnishing to do; Tildy treated him 

 as if he were a bull in a china shop and wouldn't let 

 him do more than peek in at the precious fragile 

 eggs, so Spilly Willy, having no club to go to, formed 

 a habit of going to the first gourd cottage, sitting 

 contemplatively therein. 



Tildy sat and sat and sat, and Spilly Willy sang 

 and sang and sang and brought all the delicacies to 

 be found in the universe to his little wife, until at last 

 the first son and heir emerged from his shell. 



After little Billee arrived, other little brothers and 

 sisters appeared, until there were in all six hungry, 

 cavernous mouths to feed. Tildy and Spilly Willy 

 nearly worked themselves to feathers and bone pro- 

 viding for that family^ until I was afraid the world's 

 store of grubs and spiders would be exhausted. And 

 Tildy kept reminding him what a ble|sing it was they 

 moved to the model house, for now she could go in 



191 



