The Tale of Rusty Wren

by Arthur Scott Bailey

XII

THE UNWELCOME VISITOR

“It’s Jasper Jay!” Rusty Wren cried, as soon as he and his wife heard the hoarse cry outside their house. “He’s playing one of his tricks on us. And I’m going out and tell him exactly what I think of him.”

“Don’t forget to tell him what I think of him, too!” Mrs. Rusty said, as she let go of her husband’s coat-tails.

Then Rusty hurried through the little doorway. And there was Jasper, sitting on a limb above the house, with a cherry in his bill, which he let fall with a sly smile.

The cherry struck the roof of Rusty’s house with a loud bang! And then came the same clatter, to which the Wren family had been listening.

“Here! Stop that!” Rusty cried.

Jasper Jay shrieked with laughter.

“Go away!” said Rusty.