“Hurry up! Hurry up!
Hurry up! Hurry up!
It is time,—
It is time
To get up—to get up!
Hurry up! Hurry up!”
Then Mister Tom Squirrel would come bounding out of his bed, and Major Partridge would start strutting around, and Mister Wren would shake the dew from his feathers and begin to sing, and in a few minutes all the birds and animals that had been sleeping all night would be frisking and flying around, the sun would begin to shine, the dew would go away, and it would be daylight in the woods.
After Robert Robin had sung everybody out of bed, he would get his breakfast, and then he would be ready for his day’s work.
Robert Robin did like to sing, but Mrs. Robin did not care to sing. She was a very quiet sort of person, and did not like to appear in public. She would much rather sit on her pretty greenish-blue eggs. She sat on them to keep them warm so that the little baby robins that were inside the eggs would grow to be strong enough to break the blue shells, and come out and grow up to be big robins.
One morning after Robert Robin had finished singing his “hurry up song” and the woods were ringing with the chatter of squirrels, the songs of other birds, and the “Chip! Chip! Chip!” of Mister Gabriel Chipmunk, Robert Robin was just going to get his breakfast, when suddenly the squirrels stopped chattering, and the other birds stopped singing. It was still in the woods, except for Mister Chipmunk, who was sitting on a stump and screaming his “Chip! Chip! Chip!”
“There is danger around!” thought Robert Robin. “Something has frightened the birds and squirrels!” So Robert Robin flew down where Mrs. Robin was sitting on her nest.
Robert Robin perched on one of the big branches near Mrs. Robin, and then he sat perfectly still.
Jeremiah Yellowbird was sitting on another branch, and he was sitting perfectly still. Neither Robert Robin nor Jeremiah Yellowbird could tell what had frightened the other birds and the squirrels, but both of them were looking and listening with all their might.
A shadow fell from above, and Robert Robin cocked his head on one side and looking up, saw Mister Jim Crow flying high above the top of the big basswood tree. Mister Crow was circling around, and around, and looking down into the woods, but he was not saying a word. He was trying to see what had frightened the other birds and the squirrels. Robert Robin could hear Jim Crow’s wings go “Swish! Swish!” through the air.
Suddenly Mister Gabriel Chipmunk stopped screaming his “Chip! Chip! Chip!” and Robert Robin could see him sitting on the stump. He was sitting so still that he looked like a little light brown knot.