Free L. Frank Baum by Policeman Bluejay Page B

she
eagerly ate all that the blossom contained.
    When she looked around for Chubbins she found he was gone. He had
emptied his cup and carried the golden spoon to another blossom on a
higher limb, where the girl discovered him eating as fast as he could
dip up the food.
    "Let us go to another tree," said Ephel. "There are many excellent
things to eat, and a variety of food is much more agreeable than
feasting upon one kind."
    "All right," called Chubbins, who had succeeded in emptying the second
cup.
    As they flew on Twinkle said to the guide:
    "I should think the blossoms would all be emptied in a little while."
    "Oh, they fill up again in a few moments," replied Ephel. "Should we go
back even now, I think we would find them all ready to eat again. But
here are the conona bushes. Let us taste these favorite morsels."
    The bushes on which they now rested had willow-green branches with
silver balls growing thickly upon them. Ephel tapped lightly upon one
of the balls with his bill and at once it opened by means of a hinge in
the center, the two halves of the ball lying flat, like plates. On one
side Twinkle found tiny round pellets of cake, each one just big enough
to make a mouthful for a bird. On the other side was a thick substance
that looked like jelly.
    "The proper thing to do," said their guide, "is to roll one of the
pellets in the jelly, and then eat it."
    He showed Twinkle how to do this, and as she had brought her golden
spoon with her it was easy enough. Ephel opened a ball for Chubbins and
then one for himself, and the children thought this food even nicer
than the first they had eaten.
    "Now we will have some fruit," declared the Messenger. He escorted his
charges to an orchard where grew many strange and beautiful trees
hanging full of fruits that were all unknown to the lark-children. They
were of many odd shapes and all superbly colored, some gleaming like
silver and gold and others being cherry-red or vivid blue or royal
purple in shade. A few resembled grapes and peaches and cherries; but
they had flavors not only varied and delicious but altogether different
from the fruits that grow outside of the Birds' Paradise.
    Another queer thing was, that as fast as the children ate one fruit,
another appeared in its place, and they hopped from branch to branch
and tree to tree, trying this one and that, until Chubbins exclaimed:
    "Really, Twink, I can't eat another mouthful."
    "I'm afraid we've both been stuffing ourselves, Chub," the girl
replied. "But these things taste so good it is hard to stop at the
right time."
    "Would you like to drink?" asked Ephel.
    "If you please," Twinkle answered.
    "Then follow me," said the guide.
    He led them through lovely vistas of wonderful trees, down beautiful
winding avenues that excited their admiration, and past clusters of
flowering plants with leaves as big as umbrellas and as bright as a
painter's palette. The Paradise seemed to have been laid out according
to one exquisite, symmetrical plan, and although the avenues or paths
between the trees and plants led in every direction, the ground beneath
them was everywhere thickly covered with a carpet of magnificent
flowers or richly tinted ferns and grasses. This was because the birds
never walked upon the ground, but always flew through the air.
    Often, as they passed by, the flowers would greet them with sweet songs
or choruses and the plants would play delightful music by rubbing or
striking their leaves against one another, so that the children's ears
were constantly filled with harmony, while their eyes were feasted on
the bewildering masses of rich color, and each breath they drew was
fragrant with the delicious odors of the blossoms that abounded on
every side.
    "Of all the fairylands I've ever heard of or read about," said Twinkle,
"this certainly is the best."
    "It's just a peach of a fairyland," commented Chubbins, approvingly.
    "Here is the nectar tree," presently remarked the royal Messenger, and
he paused to allow