
A bright May morning finds young Fred wandering through an orchard, where a robin lands on his arm and leads him to a hidden nest in a pear tree. He watches the tiny fledglings and their mother, noticing how the birds share food and comfort each other when one parent is missing. This simple encounter sparks his fascination with the quiet wisdom of the feathered world.
Back at home, Fred helps his grandfather turn a wooden box into a playhouse for his sister, while the children’s laughter fills the garden. Their conversations turn to the robin’s gentle habits, and the old man explains how each bird is perfectly shaped for its life, from the mighty eagle to the modest robin. As the family builds and learns together, listeners are invited to share in Fred’s wonder at nature’s subtle lessons and the small acts of kindness that bind both people and birds.
Language
en
Duration
~34 minutes (33K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2010-09-20
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1815–1893
A prolific 19th-century American writer for children, she published hundreds of stories and books filled with moral lessons, domestic scenes, and lively adventures. Writing under the name Madeline Leslie, she became a familiar presence in young readers’ lives across the Victorian era.
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