Page:Story of the robins.djvu/105

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Robins Bad Temper.
91

of being sorry, he gave way to anger and resentment. "Why," cried he, "am I to be treated in this manner, who am the eldest in the family, while all the little darlings are fondled and caressed? But I don't care; I can get to the nest yet, I make no doubt." He then attempted to fly, and after a great many trials at length got up in the air; but not knowing which way to direct his course, he sometimes turned to the right and sometimes to the left now he advanced forwards a little, and now, fearing he was wrong, came back again; at length, quite spent with fatigue, he fell to the ground, and bruised himself a good deal: stunned with the fall, he lay for some minutes without sense or motion, but soon revived; and finding himself alone in this dismal condition, the horrors of his situation filled him with dreadful apprehensions and the bitterest remorse.

"Oh," cried he, "that I had but followed the advice and example of my tender parents! then had I been safe in the nest, blest with their kind caresses, and enjoying the company of my dear brother and sisters; but now I am of all birds the most wretched! Never shall I be able to fly, for every joint of me has received a shock which I doubt it will not recover. Where shall I find shelter from the scorching sun, whose piercing rays already