THE BLUE BIRD OF HAPPINESS

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 13 February 1926, Page 18

THE BLUE BIRD OF HAPPINESS

A little boy and girl lived in a cottage at the end of a village street. Their parents were out in the village buying some food. The fire w r ent out in the cottage, and the children began to feel very lonely and unhappy. Even their beautiful pet, a kingfisher, that hung in aa large cage close to the fire, could not attract them. It shook its pretty azure wings and cried to them, but they did not notice it. They sat brooding by the empty grate for a time, until the little girl suddenly got an idea. ‘‘l know what we can do,” she said to her brother. ‘‘Let us go and search for the blue bird. Then we will all be happy. ” , “The Blue Bird?” said the little boy, doubtfully. “What blue bird?” “Don’t you remember,” said his sister, ‘ ‘ the beautiful tale mother told us last night, w'hcn father w r as so late coining home?” “Yes! Yes! Now I remember,” cried her brother. “It was a bird of happiness, wasn’t it? It lives somewhere in the wmods, mother said. We have only got. to find it and bring it home, and then everything will go well.”

‘‘And father,’- said the little gill, “will ahvays have plenty of work to do cutting down trees in the forest, and mother will be dressed like the priifcess in the story, and we shall be able, to eat cakes and sw'eets all day long! “That’s it!” said her brother. “Let us go and find the blue bird once. We wall bring it home as a Christmas present for daddy and mummy.” So they put on their little woodeu shoes, wrapped their warm woollen mufflers round tlieir necks, and put on their caps and coats. They they set out merrily ami boldly into the moonlit forest.

“Do you know on which tree it Jives?” iisked the little boy. “No, I don’t think mother told us,” said his little sister. “We must look o’n every tree we pass. When we catch a sight of anything blue in the branches we can be sure it is the blue bird.” Lt is very tiring to ■walk through a forest and look carefully at every tree in it. .It was exceedingly tiring for a boy of four years of age and a girl oi six. Their little necks at last began to ache with staring up into the towering trees, where the moonlight played on the frosted branches. Again and aagin the girl cried out, “Look, there is something blue!”

And her little brother stood gazing with her. But it was only the moonshine plaving in faint blue lights on some icicle hanging high up in a tree. last the strength of the little wanderers gave out, anil, coming to a rough log hut which stood empty by an old saw-pit, thev crept inside and soon fell asleep on the straw they found there. Very tired they were, yet wonderfully happv. Tlieir dear little heads were full of happy thoughts of all the good things they would bring to their father and mother when they came home with the blue bird; and, as they were so happy, the blue bird came to. them in their dreams. , ,

It whs exactly as their mother had told them in the fairy tale. A pretty little bird about the size of a kingfisher, with bright eyes, and blue, .shining wings, came fluttering into the hut and led them to a beautiful place of happiness. There they were able to choose everything they wished. Oh! The things' they dreamed they took home with them. A new pipe and lots of v'orlt and money for tlieir father; a lovely dress and a new saucepan for mother—they knew' she wanted a saucepan, for she had been saving up to buy one. Then the little girl took for herself a beautiful doll which opened anil shut its eves, and her brother chose a railway engine that went by itself. They carried home as many sweets and cakes as they could hold in their pockets. It was like being at a bazaar, where everything was to be hail without paving for it. But, alas! At daybreak the blue bird and the dream flew away, and the children woke up feeling cold and hungry. ‘Where is my doll?” said the little girl; “and the dress I got for mummy? ’ ’ “And the work for father —and my steam engine?” said the little boy. For some time they sat looking at each other very gloomily. Suddenly the little girl sprang up. “Perhaps the blue bird took them home for us. ’ ’ Filled with joy at the thought,, they ran through the forest, and on tlieir way they met their mother and father, who had been searching for them all night. When they arrived home there they found the doll and the engine on the table, together with a new pipe and saucepan, and a dress for their mother. “And have you got more work to do, father?” asked the little girl. “Yes,” lie replied with a smile.* “My old master met me as I was buying those presents, and engaged me as foreman.”

‘Then it wasn’t a dream!” said the little boy. “Hurrah!” We have found the blue bird of happiness, after all.”

“Then it must be somewhere in the house,” said his sister. ‘‘Where is it, mummy?”

Smilingly her mother pointed to the kingfisher in its cage. As the winter sunshine fell upon the bird the surprised children saw tints of the brightest blue flash from its plumage. Although the children did not know it, the spirit of happiness had always been a dweller in their cottage.