The brown birds looked at each other wisely.
"Chee, chee, cheeree," they sang again.
"We'll weave our little nest of hay;
And we'll begin this very day
To make it in the maple tree.
Oh! we are so happy, chee, chee, cheeree,"
sang the birds as they hurried into the barnyard.
They could take only a little hay at a time in their bills, but they chose the nicest, longest pieces they could find, and were just ready to fly away with them when a horse came galloping up.
"This is no way to carry hay," he cried. "Tell me where you live, and I will bring it to your barn in a wagon."
Then the two birds laughed till they dropped the hay from their bills; the cow laughed till her bell tinkled; the maple tree laughed till its leaves shook; and the horse laughed, too, though he did not know what the joke was, till the cow told him.
