A FABLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 843, 11 December 1929, Page 15

A FABLE

When the Magpie died great was the sorrow of the inhabitants of the forest. She was treated to a magnificent funeral, worthy of a Queen, for, to be sure, for years the Magpie had reigned as a sovereign over the other birds. The ceremony over, everybody met to speak with melancholy of the dead bird. “Our Queen was much smaller than I thought,” said the crow. “True,” said the Owl, blinking; “l pictured her as being much larger. Had I known she was so insignificant looking, I wonder if I should have turned out in broad daylight to attend her funeral.” “I have often wondered,” said the Bullfinch, “how you large birds could put up so long with the rule of a creature so puny as the Magpie. For, after all, though she was larger than myself, she could not be compared with the Eagle, the Hawk, the Owl even.” And the birds parted without having discovered the solution to the mystery. But the Warbler, who was ambitious, had noticed that the Magpie never went out without her fan, a very curious fan. The Warbler managed to procure that fan, and she soon discovered the secret of the late Queen. That fan was merely a magnifying glass, which the Magpie held before her face while pretending to fan herself. It made her look enormous, and compelled her subjects to respect her. Now the Warbler is practising the use of the fan. Artificial eyes of gold, silver, copper and ivory were used by the ancient Egyptians.