Mr. and Mrs. Bob Lincoln were greatly frightened.  They fluttered and quivered about, and talked to each other, and scolded at the boy.  Little Luke could not understand what they said, but part of it sounded like, “Let it be!  Don’t touch, don’t touch!  Go away, please, p-l-e-a-s-e, go away.”  So he got up and said, “All right, don’t be afraid.  I’ll not take your eggs, I’ll go right away.”  And so he did.

When he had gone two or three rods, Mrs. Bob Lincoln fluttered down to her nest and settled herself quietly over her eggs.  But Mr. Bob flew to a tall weed in front of little Luke.  There he sat and swung and teetered and sang his merriest song.  To the little boy it seemed as if he was trying to say, “Thank you, thank you, little boy.”

There was an old apple tree standing near the meadow fence.  On one of its branches was the nest of O-pee-chee the Robin.  Both Mr. and Mrs. O-pee-chee had gone away to pick worms from the soft, fresh earth in the garden.

As little Luke drew near to the tree, he saw Mee-ko the Red Squirrel crouching by the side of the nest with a blue egg in his front paws.  He had not yet broken the shell when he saw little Luke.  At first he thought he would run away.  But he wanted that egg; so he squatted very quietly where he was and hoped the little boy would not see him.

But little Luke’s eyes were very keen.  He saw Mee-ko and guessed what he was about.  So lie picked up a small round stone and threw it at the robber squirrel.  His aim was so true that the stone flicked Mee-ko’s tail where it curled over his shoulders.

Mee-ko was so scared that he dropped the egg back into the nest and ran along the branch and across to another.  From the end of that he dropped down to the fence and scampered along the rails up toward the woods on the side of the mountain.

He went all the faster because Father O-pee-chee flew down into the branches of the apple tree just as little Luke threw the stone.  He saw Mee-ko and understood exactly what had happened.  He flew a little way after the thieving squirrel.  Then he came back and lit on the highest branch of the apple tree and began to sing.  “Te rill, te roo, I thank you; te rill, te roo, I thank you,” the little boy thought he said.

Little Luke went over to the fence.  In a bush beside the fence there was a big spider’s web.  Old Mrs. Ik-to the Black Spider had built the web as a trap to catch flies in.  But this time there was something besides a fly in the trap.  Ah-mo the Honey Bee had blundered, into the web and was trying hard to get away.

Old Mrs. Ik-to was greatly excited.  She was not sure whether she wanted bee meat for dinner or not.  She knew very well that bees are stronger than flies and that they carry a dreadful spear with a poisoned point.

Mrs. Ik-to ran down her web a little way, then she stopped and shook it.  Ah-mo the Honey Bee was not so much entangled by the web that he could not sting and the old spider knew that.  So she ran back again to one corner of the web.