Evergreens Pt. 2

The poor little bird did not know what to do. Its wing was not yet strong, but it flew away as well as it could. Before it had gone far, the little bird heard a voice.

"Little bird," said the voice, "where are you going?"

"Indeed, I do not know," answered the bird sadly. "I am very cold."

"Come right here, then," said the friendly spruce tree, for it was her voice that had called. "You shall live on my warmest branch all winter if you choose."

"Will you really let me?" asked the little bird eagerly.

"Certainly, I will," answered the kind-hearted spruce tree. "Since your friends have flown away, it is time for the trees to help you. Sit here where my leaves are thickest."

"My branches are not very thick," said a friendly pine tree, "but I am big and strong, and I can keep the north wind away from you and the spruce."

"I can help too," said a little juniper tree. "I can give you berries all winter long, and every bird knows that juniper berries are good!"

So, the spruce gave the lonely little bird a home; the pine kept the cold north wind away from it, and the juniper gave it berries to eat. That night, the other trees looked on and talked together.

"I would not have strange birds on my boughs," said the birch.

"I shall not give my acorns away to anyone," said the oak.

"I never have anything to do with strangers," said the willow, and the three trees drew their leaves closely about them.

By morning, the birch, the oak, and the willow had lost their shining leaves. A cold north wind had come during the night to blow every leaf to the ground.

"May I take away every leaf in the forest?" asked the north wind in its frolic.

"No," said the frost king. "The trees that have been kind to the little bird with the broken wing may keep their leaves."

This is why the spruce, the pine, and the juniper are green all year round.