Preparation.
Birdie is saved by Lena. Talk of Birdie’s danger. Children imagine how she might be saved.
Narration.
HOW BIRDIE WAS SAVED.
Lena felt very sad indeed when the old cook said, “I am going to drown Birdie.” Oh, how sorry she was that she had made such a promise! All day long she thought about it and grew sadder and sadder. Birdie would ask, “What is the matter, dear Lena?” But Lena would say, “I cannot tell you, Birdie.”
Night came and the children went to bed; but Lena could not sleep. At last she said to herself, “That was not a good promise. I will not keep it.” So she woke Birdie and told her all about what the old cook had said and done.
Then she said, “But I can save you, Birdie, if you will trust me and do just as I say.” “O, Lena,” said Birdie, “I do trust you. I know you love me and I will do just as you say.” “Then,” said Lena, “let us get up and dress ourselves. We will slip quietly out of the house and hide in the forest before the old cook is up.” So the children dressed themselves. They went softly out of the house and ran far away into the forest.
When the hunter had eaten his breakfast and left the house, the old cook went to the children’s room to get Birdie. How astonished she was to find the bed empty and both the children gone. How frightened she felt when she thought of the hunter’s anger when he should come home. “Oh,” she cried, “what shall I say when the hunter comes home and finds that the children are gone?”
Suggestions.