Explore "The Exemplar" by E.V. Lucas on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Fables
Once upon a time there was a little boy who had a fit of naughtiness. / He refused to obey his nurse and was, as she said afterwards, that / obstreperous that her life for about half an hour was a burden. At / last, just as she was in despair, a robin fluttered to the window-sill / of the nursery and perched on it, peeping in.
"There," said the nurse, "look at that dear little birdie come to see / what all the trouble's about. He's never refused to have his face / washed and made clean, I know. I'd be ashamed to cry and scream before / a little pretty innocent like that, that I would."
Now this robin, as it happened, was a poisonously wicked little bird. / He was greedy and jealous and spiteful. He continually fought other / and weaker birds and took away their food; he pecked sparrows and / tyrannized over tits. He habitually ate too much; and quite early in / life he had assisted his brothers and sisters in putting both their / parents to death.
None the less the spectacle of his pretty red breast and bright eye / shamed and soothed the little boy so that he became quite good again.