Children -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Fantasy fiction
Patsy Ann was delighted with this idea, and she watched the parrot,
fascinated, as he picked up a large, dry leaf and whistled for the
Fountain Pen Bird. A little black bird with a shiny gold bill appeared
instantly, and flew right into her hand. The parrot told her to hold
him just like a fountain pen and write on the leaf with his bill. She
thought this very funny, but did exactly as she was told, and sure
enough, she was able to write with him just as if she was sitting at
home at her own little desk. In a few minutes she was watching the
Carrier Pigeon fly away to Nursie with the note wrapped around his leg.
Patsy Ann and the parrot then started off to see the sights. First they
came to an enormous tree and the parrot asked Patsy Ann if she could
see anything in it. When she answered, “No, Polly,” he handed her a
pair of amber glasses to put on, and immediately the tree appeared
full of Fluttering Kafouts, which, he explained, were quite colorless
and invisible to the naked eye. Then they passed over a brook where a
Submarine Bird was just about to submerge, but when he saw Patsy Ann
he said, “I know what you’d like!” and dove ’way down into the clear
water, coming up with a bright red balloon in his beak, which he gave
to her.
Just then she heard someone calling, “Cream of Wheat! Cream of Wheat!”
and wondered whatever it could be. Polly told her it was the Breakfast
Bird, who would not only bring you Cream of Wheat, but eggs in every
style. If you whistled once you got a soft-boiled egg, if you whistled
twice you got a hard-boiled egg, and if you turned a somersault he
knew you wanted them scrambled. Patsy Ann was feeling a bit hungry, so
she whistled twice, just to see if what Polly said would really happen.
Sure enough--a queer-looking bird flew close to her and dropped a nice
hard-boiled egg right into her outspread apron.
While she was walking along eating it, the parrot stopped to call her
attention to a ragged little fellow, which he told her was the famous
Early Bird. It was wearing an old, tattered overcoat with dozens of
pockets, and every pocket was overflowing with worms. He was always the
first bird up in the morning, and that was why he was able to catch so
many worms.
Most of these birds were perfect strangers to Patsy Ann, and she was
wondering what funny thing would happen next. It happened to be the
Fizzwikle, who flew about her and made her very thirsty indeed by
sounding his fizzy note, which was just like the noise made by a soda
water fountain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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