"The Wren is King of the Birds," said the Headman of Windy-Gap.
"Yes, King of the Birds," said the King, "and, therefore, my lawful tribute."
"No bird will ever out-soar this flight of mine," said the Eagle.
And so, for ever after the villages sent to the King, not an Eagle, but a Wren as tribute. And in no village ever after were the lands unplowed and the fields unsown, the cloth unspun and the coats not made, the roofs unthatched and the apple-trees unplanted. And in every village in the hollow and on the height the people shouted for the Wren—"The Wren, the Wren, the King of all Birds."
