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He drea around his throat, and when he strove to

grasp it the slilided away from his clutch Then his dream was

cla in his face There

hat appeared to be a scraulated

movement The hill side was alive with clatter andthe pines In the east the daas unfolding

out of the darkness Its glimmer was yet dim in the plain below

"What's it all about?" wondered a big black bird perched in the top of

the tallest tree He was an old solitary and a wise one, yet he was

not wise enough to guess what it was all about So all day long he kept

blinking and wondering

The noise reached far out over the plain and across the hills and awoke

the little babes that were sleeping in their cradles The smoke curled

up toward the sun and shadowed the plain so that the stupid birds

thought it was going to rain; but the wise one knew better

"They are children playing a ga enough"

At the approach of night they had all vanished aith their din and