Swallows

Suddenly he turned from his audience and spoke into the air.

"'It is time that I should have my turn to talk, little sister Swallows,' he said.

"'Be quiet and listen until I have finished.' And so says the old story.

The Swallows obeyed his voice." a short time after francis went on his way toward bivagna a small town on the southwestern side of the umbrian valley looking off from assisi one may still see the road by which he must have walked two or three of his brothers were with him but francis was not talking his head was bent and he seemed to be thinking so hard that he had forgotten all about his comrades suddenly as it is written in an old book called the little flowers of st francis he lifted up his eyes and saw many trees along the side of the road and in their branches an almost countless number of birds so that francis wondered and said to his companions wait for me here and i will go and preach to my sisters the birds and he went into the field and began to preach to the birds that were on the ground and quickly those that were up in the trees came to him and they all kept quiet while francis finished his sermon and even then they did not go away until he had given them his blessing and when francis went among them touching their heads not one of them moved the substance of the sermon that francis made was this my bird sisters you are much beloved by god your master and always in every place you ought to praise him because he has given you liberty to fly everywhere and he has given you also clothing double and triple you are loved also by the air which he has given to you and moreover you neither sow nor reap and god feeds you and gives you the rivers and the fountains to drink from he gives you the mountains and the valleys for your refuge and the tall trees for your nests and although you do not know how to spin or sow god clothes you and your children god must love you much since he gives you so many blessings and therefore be careful my sisters of the sin of ingratitude and always seek to praise god while francis said these words all those birds began to open their beaks and stretch out their necks and spread their wings and bend their heads reverently toward the earth and with acts and songs they showed that the holy father gave them great pleasure and francis rejoiced and made merry together with them and he wondered much at such a multitude of birds and at their beauty and at their attention and tameness and he devoutly thanked god for them the old story goes on to tell how after the sermon the great flock of birds rose into the air with wonderful songs and flew away north and south and east and west even as the poor brothers must go who like the birds had nothing of their own but depended only on god's care of them this story of the birds was so much loved and so often told that years afterward the painters liked to paint it on the walls of the churches you may still see in the great church of st francis of assisi a picture by the painter giotto of the gray-robed brothers standing among the birds and telling them so simply that it really seemed as if a bird might understand of the father without whose love not even a sparrow falls one night brother francis and brother leone god's little lamb were alone together it was may and in a great ilex tree near them a nightingale was singing sweet and clear in the stillness to francis the song seemed all joy and praise come brother leone he cried let us sing too and see which will tire first our voices or that of the nightingale but brother leone who was perhaps tired and sleepy excused himself saying that he had no voice Then Francis, his heart filled with the gladness of the beautiful springtime, went out into the darkness, and, all night long, the man and the bird sang wonderful songs of love and praise.

But even God's troubadour could not outdo the little unseen singer in the Ilex tree.

And, at last, Francis owned merrily that Brother Nightingale was victor in this strange singing-match.

CHAPTER XII.

SWALLOWS The swallow, the only bird that is carnivorous among those which have not hooked talons, takes its departure also during the winter months but it goes only to neighboring countries seeking sunny retreats there on the mountain sides sometimes they have been found in such spots bare and quite unfledged this bird it is said will not enter a house in thebes because that city has been captured so frequently nor will it approach the country of byzie on account of the crimes committed there by terus caesina a member of the equestrian order and the owner of several chariots used to have swallows caught and then carried them with him to rome upon gaining a victory he would send the news by them to his friends for after staining them the color of the party that had gained the day he would let them go immediately upon which they would make their way to the nests they had previously occupied Fabius Pictor also relates, in his Annals, that when a Roman garrison was being besieged by the Ligurians, a swallow which had been taken from its young ones was brought to him, in order that he might give them notice, by the number of knots on a string tied to its leg, on what day succor would arrive, and a sortie might be made with advantage.

book seven chapter thirteen of the boys and girls pliny birds which take their departure from us in winter in a similar manner also the blackbird the thrush and the starling take their departure to neighboring countries but they do not lose their feathers nor conceal themselves as they are often to be seen in places where they seek their food during the winter hence it is that in winter more especially the thrush is so often to be seen in germany it is however a well ascertained fact that the turtle-dove conceals itself and loses its feathers the ring-dove also takes its departure yet it is a matter of doubt whither they go a peculiarity of the starling is to fly in troops as it were and then to wheel round in a globular mass like a ball the central troop acting as a pivot for the rest Swallows are the only birds that have a sinuous flight of remarkable velocity so that they are not exposed to the attacks of other birds of prey.

These are the only birds that take their food solely on the wing.

The time during which birds show themselves differs very considerably.

For this holiday presentation, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee adapted Oscar Wilde's fairy tale, setting a delayed little swallow beneath the statue of the Happy Prince in a wintry city.

From his high column, the Prince sees hardship in the streets below and asks the bird to carry messages through the city.

Gordon MacRae is the Prince, Lucille Norman the Swallow, and John McIntire narrates, with Carmen Dragon conducting and Norman Luboff leading the choir.

Here is the original broadcast.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Railroad Hour.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

On this Christmas Eve, I shall be the statue of the Happy Prince.

Lucille Norman is the Little Swallow, and John McIntire is our narrator, who spins for us the lovely story of The Happy Prince.

California.Twilight Birds: Cold Young Rice.

Swallow, I follow thy skimming over the sunset skies; Follow till joy is dimming to sadness in my eyes.

And hollow seems now thy twittering high up where the bittering Night-blown winds arise.

Throstle, the wassail thou drinkest daily of chalice buds, Wassail in which thou linkest thy notes of springtime moods, Should docile thy elfish fluttering where twilight is uttering Sorcery through the woods.