"You get around quite a bit, I suppose," ventured the Shaggy Man.
"Being a bird, naturally," retorted the wren with a saucy flirt of his tail.
"Well, then," said Shaggy, "would you mind doing your own flying and getting off my shoulder?"
"That's gratitude for you," said the wren reproachfully. "I save you from a life of boredom and you refuse to let me hitchhike down to earth." But the bird didn't move from Shaggy's shoulder.
"Where are you going—anywhere in particular?" asked Twink.
"Oh yes, of course," the wren replied. "Just below Hightown there is a lovely orchard of all kinds of fruit trees. That's where the Hightowners get all their food. They live on fruit. They can boast about their silly town all they like, but when they want food you can bet they hurry down to the orchard on earth for it. That's why they don't like us birds. We enjoy eating the fruit in the orchard, too. We seldom go near Hightown, except when the people are asleep. They are so disagreeable they throw things at us and accuse us of stealing from their orchard. Their orchard, indeed!"
"Tell me," said the Shaggy Man, "was your mother a magpie?"