Free Snow Goose by Paul Gallico, Angela Barrett Page B

and whooping and honking in the autumn sky, to circle the landmark of the old light and drop to earth near by to be his guests again—birds that he well remembered and recognized from the previous year.
    And this made Rhayader happy, because he knew that implanted somewhere in their beings was the germ knowledge of his existence and his safe haven, that this knowledge had become a part of them and, with the coming of the gray skies and the winds from the north, would send them unerringly back to him.
    For the rest, his heart and soul went into the painting of the country in which he lived and its creatures. There are not many Rhayaders extant. He hoarded them jealously, piling them up in his lighthouse and the storerooms above by the hundreds. He was not satisfied with them, because as an artist he was uncompromising.
    But the few that have reached the market are masterpieces, filled with the glow and colors of marsh-reflected light, the feel of flight, the push of birds breasting a morning wind bending the tall flag reeds. He painted the loneliness and the smell of the salt-laden cold, the eternity and agelessness of marshes, the wild, living creatures, dawn flights, and frightened things taking to the air, and winged shadows at night hiding from the moon.

     
    One November afternoon, three years after Rhayader had come to the Great Marsh, a child approached the lighthouse studio by means of the sea wall. In her arms she carried a burden.
    She was no more than twelve, slender, dirty, nervous and timid as a bird, but beneath the grime as eerily beautiful as a marsh faery. She was pure Saxon, large-boned, fair, with a head to which her body was yet to grow, and deep-set, violet-colored eyes.
    She was desperately frightened of the ugly man she had come to see, for legend had already begun to gather about Rhayader, and the native wild-fowlers hated him for interfering with their sport.
    But greater than her fear was the need of that which she bore. For locked in her child's heart was the knowledge, picked up somewhere in the swampland, that this ogre who lived in the lighthouse had magic that could heal injured things.
    She had never seen Rhayader before and was close to fleeing in panic at the dark apparition that appeared at the studio door, drawn by her footsteps —the black head and beard, the sinister hump, and the crooked claw.
    She stood there staring, poised like a disturbed marsh bird for instant flight.
    But his voice was deep and kind when he spoke to her.
    "What is it, child?"
    She stood her ground, and then edged timidly forward. The thing she carried in her arms was a large white bird, and it was quite still. There were stains of blood on its whiteness and on her kirtle where she had held it to her.
    The girl placed it in his arms. "I found it, sir. It's hurted. Is it still alive?"
    "Yes. Yes, I think so. Come in, child, come in."

     
    Rhayader went inside, bearing the bird, which he placed upon a table, where it moved feebly. Curiosity overcame fear. The girl followed and found herself in a room warmed by a coal fire, shining with many colored pictures that covered the walls, and full of a strange but pleasant smell.
    The bird fluttered. With his good hand Rhayader spread one of its immense white pinions. The end was beautifully tipped with black.
    Rhayader looked and marveled, and said: "Child, where did you find it?" "In t' marsh, sir, where fowlers had been. What—what is it, sir?" "It's a snow goose from Canada. But how in all heaven came it here?" The name seemed to mean nothing to the little girl. Her deep violet eyes, shining out of the dirt on her thin face, were fixed with concern on the injured bird. She said: "Can 'ee heal it, sir?"
    "Yes, yes," said Rhayader. "We will try. Come, you shall help me." There were scissors and bandages and splints on a shelf, and he was marvelously deft, even with the crooked claw that managed to hold things.
    He said: "Ah, she has been shot, poor thing. Her leg is