“Yes,” added Mrs. Blackbird, “I think they have been overfed myself. The baby slept very poorly last night, and kept me awake much of the time by wriggling around under me.”
So it was settled, and after that the poor brother had help. His five motherless children began to grow fat and sturdy, while their cousins were none the worse for sharing. Sad to say, however, they made a dreadful fuss because their parents helped feed their little cousins.
“Guess those children could get along some way,” they grumbled. “Mother always gives them the best. It isn’t fair! We just won’t eat if she does that way!”
When she brought them more food they were sulky and told her to take it to the other nest. She looked sharply at them and flew away. “Guess she will feel sorry when we are starved to death,” said the three cross nestlings. And when their father came to feed them they acted in the same way.
Their parents, being very wise for a couple with their first brood, did not urge them to eat, or get worried in any way. They simply paid no attention to them, besides cleaning out the nest once in a while. They also kept on helping the other family. It made them very sad to have their children so foolish and naughty, but they tried to remember how young they were and to be patient.
After a while the three cross children began to feel very badly. Their stomachs had not been really empty since they could remember—not until now. For a while they talked about getting even with their parents. Then they were very still. The baby began to cry. “I am so hungry,” said she. And the others cried with her. “So are we,” they said.
Their parents flew straight up to the nest. There was nobody watching them, but they were in such haste that they might even have done so if there had been.
“Don’t you like to feel hungry?” asked their mother.
“No,” sobbed the little Blackbirds. “We want you to feed us.”
“What if you had nobody to feed you?” said she. And she never moved toward getting them a Grub.