A Wise Swallow, seeing a man sow seed in
a field, went behind him, and picked
up
one of the seeds to see what it was.
She found that it was flax.
"When this
flax has grown," she said to herself, "the man
will make it into linen thread, and
use it to
make nets for catching us Birds."
So she went to all the Birds, and told them
what she had discovered, begging them
to
come and help her eat up the flax-seed before
it should sprout.
But the Birds would not listen to
her. Not
one of them could she persuade
to help her
pick up the seeds which the farmer had sown.
By and by the flax sprung
up, and the
Swallow tried again to persuade the Birds
to
pull the young flax before it grew large.
But
they all made fun of her, and let the flax keep
growing.
When she saw how
heedless all the Birds
were, the Swallow would have nothing to do
with them, but left the
woods where they
lived, and came among men, building her nests
in barns, and along the eaves of houses.
Dear child, do not let the wise little Swallow
look at you with her bright eyes, and think,
"How foolish that child is, to wait till it is too
late to do what ought to be done now."
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