Yet not a body be?
Tell a body, anybody,
Didst such a body see?"

Of course it was Sammy Jay who was humming such a foolish-sounding rhyme
as that. But really, it wasn't so foolish in Sammy's case, after all. He
had sat up wide awake all night just to try to find out why it was that all
the little meadow and forest people had complained that he spent part of
each night screaming "Thief! thief! thief!" just as he does in the daytime.
Now he knew. Sitting in the dark in his big pine-tree, he had heard his own
voice, or what sounded like his own voice, screaming down in the alders by
the Laughing Brook. Sammy had scratched himself to be sure that he was
really and truly awake and not dreaming, for there was his voice down in
the alders, and there was himself sitting in the big pine tree with his
mouth closed as tight as he could shut it. Did ever a Jaybird have anything
so queer as that to puzzle him?

Anyway, Sammy Jay knew that he didn't scream in his sleep, and there was a
whole lot of comfort in that. He could eat with a better appetite now. You
see, when he had been told that he was screaming in the night, Sammy had
been afraid that he was doing it in his sleep; and if he was doing that,
why, some dark night Hooty the Owl might hear him and find him, and that
would be the end of him. Now he knew that he could go to sleep in peace,
just as he always had.

Sammy Jay brushed and smoothed out his handsome blue coat and made himself
as pert and smart-appearing as possible. He had been so worried lately that
he hadn't taken much care of himself, which is very unusual for Sammy Jay.
Now, however, he felt so much better that he began to think about his
looks. When he had finished dressing, he started for the alders beside the