“You are very kind,” she replied, “but he is so used to having me that I think I might better——”
“I said,” interrupted her husband, “that I would be with our son to-day. I advise you to fly away with our daughter and show her something of the world.” Mrs. Phœbe did not often hear him speak in that tone of voice. When he did, she always agreed with him.
As soon as father and son were alone, the father said: “Now you are going to catch Flies before sunset. You have let your poor mother nearly work her feathers off for you. (Of course, feathers do not come off so, but this was his way of speaking.) She is very tired, and you are not to act like this again. There comes a Fly. Catch him!”
The young Phœbe made a wild dash, missed his Fly, and came back to the syringa bush whimpering. “I knew I couldn’t,” he said. “I tried as hard as I could, but he flew away.”
“Yes,” said his father. “You tried once, just once. You may have to try a hundred times before you catch one, but that is no reason why you should not try. Go for that Mosquito.”
The son went, and missed him, of course. This time he knew better than to talk about it. He just flew back to his perch and looked miserable.
“I think you got a little nearer to this one,” said his father. “Go for that Fly!”
The young Phœbe was kept darting here and there so often that he had no time to be sulky. Indeed, if people have to keep moving quite fast, they soon forget to want to be sulky. At last he was surprised by his father’s tucking a very delicious Bluebottle down his throat. “Just for a lunch,” he explained. “Now try for that one.”
The son made a sudden lurch and flight, and actually caught him. It was a much smaller Fly than the one which his father had fed him, but it tasted better. He swallowed it as slowly as he could, so as to feel it going down as long as possible. Then he began to be happier. “Watch me catch that Mosquito,” he said. And when he missed him, as he did, he made no fuss at all—only said: “I’ll get the next one!” When he missed that he simply said: “Well, I’ll get the next one, anyhow!”
And he did.