“That fellow is up to some mischief, I’ll be bound,” thought the crow:  “I will keep my eye on him.”  The man stopped under the tree, spread the net on the ground; and taking a bag of rice out of his pocket, he scattered the grains amongst the meshes of the net.  Then he hid himself behind the trunk of the tree from which the crow was watching, evidently intending to stop there and see what would happen.  The crow felt pretty gore that the stranger had designs against birds, and that the stick had something to do with the matter.  He was quite right; and it was not long before just what he expected came to pass.

A flock of pigeons, led by a specially fine bird who had been chosen king because of his size and the beauty of his plumage, came flying rapidly along, and noticed the white rice, but did not see the net, because it was very much the same colour as the ground.  Down swooped the king, and down swept all the other pigeons, eager to enjoy a good meal without any trouble to themselves.  Alas, their joy was short lived!  They were all caught in the net and began struggling to escape, beating the air with their wings and uttering loud cries of distress.

The crow and the man behind the tree kept very quiet, watching them; the man with his stick ready to beat the poor helpless birds to death, the crow watching out of mere curiosity.  Now a very strange and wonderful thing came to pass.  The king of the pigeons, who had his wits about him, said to the imprisoned birds: 

“Take the net up in your beaks, all of you spread out your wings at once, and fly straight up into the air as quickly as possible.”

1.  What special qualities did the king display when he gave these orders to his subjects?

2.  Can you think of any other advice the king might have given?

CHAPTER II

In a moment all the pigeons, who were accustomed to obey their leader, did as they were bid; each little bird seized a separate thread of the net in his beak and up, up, up, they all flew, looking very beautiful with the sunlight gleaming on their white wings.  Very soon they were out of sight; and the man, who thought he had hit upon a very clever plan, came forth from his hiding-place, very much surprised at what had happened.  He stood gazing up after his vanished net for a little time, and then went away muttering to himself, whilst the wise old crow laughed at him.

When the pigeons had flown some distance, and were beginning to get exhausted, for the net was heavy and they were quite unused to carrying loads, the king bade them rest awhile in a clearing of the forest; and as they all lay on the ground panting for breath, with the cruel net still hampering them, he said: