The Skeezer made no reply. He thought it unwise to
hurry matters. All during the afternoon they sat
silent. Once Reera went to her cupboard and after
thrusting her hand into the same drawer as before,
touched the wolf and transformed it into a bird with
gorgeous colored feathers. This bird was larger than a
parrot and of a somewhat different form, but Ervic had
never seen one like it before.
"Sing!" said Reera to the bird, which had perched
itself on a big wooden peg -- as if it had been in the
cottage before and knew just what to do.
And the bird sang jolly, rollicking songs with words
to them -- just as a person who had been carefully
trained might do. The songs were entertaining and Ervic
enjoyed listening to them. In an hour or so the bird
stopped singing, tucked its head under its wing and
went to sleep. Reera continued knitting but seemed
thoughtful.
Now Ervic had marked this cupboard drawer well and
had concluded that Reera took something from it which
enabled her to perform her transformations. He thought
that if he managed to remain in the cottage, and Reera
fell asleep, he could slyly open the cupboard, take a
portion of whatever was in the drawer, and by dropping
it into the copper kettle transform the three fishes
into their natural shapes.
Pages:
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158