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Show Evening Fairy Tale for Children I By MARY GRAHAM BONNER Little Effie Elf came along and saw Mrs. Swallow feeding her three children. chil-dren. "Hello, Mrs. Swallow," said Effle Elf. The swallow gave a shrill cry, and all the little swallows squealed for all they were worth even though their eyes were not yet open and they didn't see to whom their mother was speaking. speak-ing. "I'm not going to hurt your children," chil-dren," said Effle Elf. "I like chimney swallows yes, I do." "Do you really?" asked Mrs. Swallow. Swal-low. There was something about Effle Elfs voice that made Mrs. Swallow trust her and care for her almost at once. "Well, then," she continued, "would you like to have a look at my nest? It Is quite a beautiful one." Effie Elf looked at the nest and admired ad-mired it greatly. "How can you ever do so much with your fingers?" asked Effie. "It seems wonderful to me to think of being able to make a nest like that, and to put all that wonderful wonder-ful glue on it, too. "Don't your fingers get sticky?" The little swallow almost fell off the top of the chimney where she was sitting, sit-ting, so hard did she laugh. And the little swallows, in their shrill little, young, voices, laughed, too, for the first time iu their young, little lives I "Little Creature, who are you?" asked Mrs. Swallow. "I'm Effle Elf." "Well, and who am I?" "You're Mrs. Chimney Swallow," said Effie. "And will you please take another look, and tell me where my hands are that will get so sticky, and where my Hello, Mrs. Swallow. fingers are with which to make a nest?" "To be sure, to be sure," said Effie. "How very, very stupid of me! "Of course, you haven't any fingers at all. And you can't get your hands sticky -when you haven't any hands. "But how do you ever manage?" "Well, I'll tell you," said Mrs. Chimney Chim-ney Swallow, for she liked talking to the gentle little elf. "In the first place." she began, "I have feet to use Instead of fingers. "They do just as well I And I make that glue you see by rubbing my beak around my nest. "The glue comes from my beak. Isn't that fine?" "Marvelous," said Effie Elf. "I think your nest is one of the finest I have ever seen." "I am so glad you like It," said Mrs. Chimney Swallow. "And now I must teach my children to fly and you know I let my children shriek and talk at the tops of their voices. "Some people want their children to have soft voices, but not Mother Chimney Chim-ney Swallow. "She's a mother who has her own ideas." "And feet Instead of fingers," said Effie Elf admiringl. ((c). 1H31, Western Newspaper Unton.) |