or they will blow us to death. We might as well die fighting them."
"But how shall we reach them?" asked the other animals. "They slip off to the sky when we try to grasp them."
"That will be easy," answered Blue Jay. "We will go up to heaven to them. Let all the birds sing their sweetest songs. Then the sky will bend its ear to listen, and we will fasten it to the earth and climb up on it."
The birds began to sing,—Wren, Robin, Lark, Thrush, and all the others. They poured forth so blithe a chorus that the sky leaned down to listen. Then Nightingale burst into a silencing solo, and the sky dipped down so low that its edge touched the earth. The animals hastened to tie it to the earth with a rope of reeds. Then they scrambled up on it and climbed up, up, up, until they came near the home of the southwest winds. There they paused to plan their attack.
Blue Jay suddenly called out: "Skate, you would better go back to earth. You are so broad that you will surely be hit with an arrow."
"Do you think I am a coward?" retorted Skate. "I' m not afraid of the winds, nor of you either, you bragging Blue Jay. Come out now, boaster, and I 'll fight you a duel"; and Skate raised his bow.
