But as soon as evening came the little girl would awaken. She would run out to the river-bank to play. She would shout and laugh.
She did not mind the dark. In fact she declared that the sun hurt her eyes and that she could see far better in the dark.
The child's mother said that for all her queerness the little girl was very wise. She knew many things which grown-up people had never heard.
The people of the village shook their heads. They said there was magic in it all, and that some day something strange would surely happen.
So, when at sunset the queer little girl ran shouting to the river, the people of the village watched from the bushes.
And sure enough, something very wonderful did happen!
One evening the little girl with her big shiny eyes ran shouting among the trees which grew beside the river.
She was chasing a little field-mouse, which at last ran tremblingly up the low branch of a tree and hid in the dark.
But the queer little girl, who could see quite well in the dark, jumped to follow the mouse.
Lo, as she jumped, the queer little girl changed into a bird with a long, long beak and great shining eyes!