Hoodt Hoodt - ISABEL MCLANE MOWRY

Hoodt-Hoodt was a Hoopoo bird. The children called him Hoodt-Hoodt because of the noise he made by tapping (hitting) a tree with his long beak (the mouth of a bird). People believed that Hoodt-Hoodt brought them happiness. They said, " If we hear his Tap, Tap, something good is sure to come before nightfall. My wife will be pleased with me and give me something nice to eat when i get home; or my sick child will be better. Something good will happen if i hear Hoodt-Hoodt tapping! " 

 

B But Hoodt-Hoodt was not happy. He loved Miss Hoopoo. Miss Hoopoo was a very beautiful girl-bird. But she did not seem to love Hoodt- 

 

Hoodt. There were many other Mr. HoodtHoodts who loved her. Each hoped to marry her. Each sang her love-songs, and she heard them all; and then she laughed - and flew away! But she stayed with our Hoodt-Hoodt longer than she stayed with the others. 

 

Sometimes he thought he saw love in her eyes. 

 

Then he thought of the pretty little home they would make; thought of Miss Hoopoo sitting on their eggs; and he would bring her food. Then the eggs would break; the little ones would come out ... But she flew away and things were just the same as before. 

 

C It was euening among the sweet grasses at the side of the River Nile. It was the same evening as when the King lost his way in the forest. HoodtHoodt asked Miss Hoopoo to marry him - as he always did, every morning and every evening. But this evening Miss Hoopoo was very hard to please. He brought her nice things to eat; and sang his songs to her. He asked her again and again. Then she said: 

 

"I will marry the King of the Birds. 1'11 marry a bird with a crown on his head." 

 

"But, my dear," said Hoodt-Hoodt, "we are birds, not kings or gods! i cannot grow a crown by wishing for one." 

 

"Well then," she answered," 1'11 find a bird who can! - You wouId look very nice with a crown on." 

 

D "Anybody would look nice with a crown on," said he. 

 

"No no, not everybody. But you would. You would look like a King. You are the biggest Hoopoo on the Nile." 

 

Hoodt-Hoodt became very angry. 

 

"You don't know what you're talking about! 

 

Y ou've never seen a crown!" 

 

"Oh yes i have," said Miss Hoopoo. "One day my mother sent me into Lower Egypt to bring her something. And there-" 

 

"And there you met a bird with a crown ? " "No! He wasn't a bird," said Miss Hoopoo. 

 

"IT WAS THE KING OF EGYPT!" 

 

E "Well, you don't think you can marry Ramses, do you?" 

 

"No, of course not! But all the Hoopoos' heads look so smail after that. - Oh, go away! - and don't come back till you've got a crown." 

 

So Hoodt-Hoodt was sitting in the darkest of the forest. His eyes were closed, and his heart was very sad. 

 

The King's voice woke him. Hoodt-Hoodt raised his head.