l6o Ways of Wood Folk. 



Do birds have romances? How much greater won- 

 ders had he seen than those of any romance ! And 

 do they have any means of communicating them, as 

 they sing their love songs? What a wonderful stor}' 

 he could tell, a real story, of a magic palace full of 

 strange wonders; of a glittering bit of air that made 

 him see himself; of a giant, all in white, with only his 

 head visible ; of an enchanted beauty, stretching her 

 wings in mute supplication for some brave knight to 

 touch her and break the spell, while on high a fierce 

 dragon-hawk kept watch, ready to eat up any one who 

 should dare enter ! 



And of course none of the birds would believe him. 

 He would have to spend the rest of his life explaining ; 

 and the others would only whistle, and call him lagoo, 

 the lying woodpecker. On the whole, it would be 

 better for a bird with such a very unusual experience 

 to keep still about it. 



