Robby Robin

Robby Robin was a very happy bird. He had brown feathers everywhere except his belly, which was bright orange. Most robins were interested in keeping their pretty feathers clean and in finding fat worms to eat. Robby didn't care much about his feathers. He only wanted to sing.

From the time he awoke in the morning until the sun set in the evening, Robby sang loudly. His song was cheerful, but not everyone liked it. "Pipe down!" called the squirrels. "It's too early to get up, and we want to rest."

"Cheer up!" sang Robby. "You don't want to miss the sunrise!" And he continued to sing, even though the squirrels hurt his feelings.

Many robins had fat bellies, but Robby was a thin bird. This is because Robby never caught as many worms as his friends. Sometimes when he found a juicy worm, he was so excited that he began to sing. This gave the worm time to wiggle out of Robby's open beak and squirm away to safety.

One day, Robby met a bird with a bright yellow belly. He chirped out a cheerful hello song. "My name is Robby Robin. What's yours?" he asked.

"I'm Melody Meadowlark," the new bird answered. And with that, she opened her beak and sang the most beautiful song Robby had ever heard. All of her notes were pure, and she could sing very high.

"Wow," said Robby. "I guess the squirrels are right. I'm not a very good singer after all."

"I think you have a lovely voice," said Melody. "The most important part of singing is that you are happy when you do it. I can tell you are a very happy singer."

"That's true," said Robby. And he sang the notes of a new song he was thinking about.

Melody listened to the tune before she joined in. She sang high notes that blended with Robby's lower notes. When the two birds sang together, all the nearby animals stopped to listen. Even the squirrels stopped chattering to hear the music.

When the song was done, the other birds and animals cheered. "Bravo!" they called.

Robby smiled. He was very pleased that the others finally liked his singing. From that day forward, Robby and Melody spent every afternoon together singing duets for the other birds. Most of all, Robby was happy to have a new best friend.