stinging them. The bears could not stand it. They got up and ran away as
fast as they could, Since that time the bee folk have had stings and the
courage to use them whenever any creature, little or big, attempts to
annoy or injure them."




[Illustration]




XIII. THE STORY OF THE FIRST SWALLOWS


In May little Luke had watched Mr. and Mrs. Lun-i-fro the Eave Swallows
while they had built their queer, pocket-shaped, mud hut beneath the
eaves of the big barn. He saw them on the muddy shores of the river,
rolling little pellets of mud, which they carried to the barn and built
into their nest, and wondered at their odd ways.

"I wish," he often said to himself, "that they could talk. I would ask
them how they learned to do it." At that time he had no idea he would
ever be able to talk to them.

After he had found the Magic Speech Flower he often talked to Father
and Mother Lun-i-fro. But their talks were always short, for the two
swallows were always too busy chasing gnats and flies through the air
to spend much time on anything else.