L. Frank Baum Read Online Free PDF Page A

it startled even me when I heard it. This seemed to
please my captor very much; so he put it inside one of the ticking
things on the shelf, and by-and-by a door opened and the wooden bird
jumped out and cried 'Cuck-oo! Cuck-oo! Cuck-oo!' and then jumped back
again and the door closed with a snap.
    "'Bravo!' cried old white-hair; but I was rather annoyed, for I thought
the wooden bird was impudent in trying to ape the ways of live cuckoos.
I shouted back a challenge to it, but there was no reply. An hour
later, and every hour, it repeated the performance, but jumped behind
the door when I offered to fight it.
    "The next day the man was absent from the room, and I had nothing to
eat. So I became angry and uneasy. I scratched away at the wooden bars
of my cage and tried to twist them with my beak, and at last one of
them, to my great joy, came loose, and I was able to squeeze myself out
of the cage.
    "But then I was no better off than before, because the windows and the
door of the room were fast shut. I grew more cross and ill-tempered
than before, when I discovered this, and to add to my annoyance that
miserable wooden bird would every once in awhile jump out and yell
'Cuck-oo!' and then bounce back into its house again, without daring to
argue with me.
    "This at last made me frantic with rage, and I resolved to be revenged.
The next time the wooden bird made its appearance I new upon it in a
flash and knocked it off the little platform before it had uttered its
cry more than twice. It fell upon the floor and broke one of its wings;
but in an instant I dashed myself upon it and bit and scratched the
impudent thing until there was not a bit of paint left upon it. Its
head came off, too, and so did its legs and the other wing, and before
I was done with it no one ever would have known it was once a clever
imitation of myself. Finding that I was victorious I cried 'Cuck-oo!'
in triumph, and just then the little door of the ticking thing opened
and the platform where the wooden bird had stood came out of it and
remained for a time motionless. I quickly flew up and perched upon it,
and shouted 'Cuck-oo!' again, in great glee. As I did so, to my
amazement the platform on which I stood leaped backward, carrying me
with it, and the next instant the door closed with a snap and I found
myself in darkness.
    "Wildly I fluttered my wings; but it was of no use. I was in a prison
much worse than the cage, and so small that I could hardly turn around
in it. I was about to die of terror and despair when I chanced to
remember that at certain times the door would open to push out the bird
and allow it to say 'Cuck-oo!' before it shut again. So, the next time
it opened in this way, I would be able to make my escape.
    "Very patiently I waited in the dark little hole, listening to the
steady 'tick-tock!' of the machinery behind me and trying not to be
nervous. After awhile I heard the old man come into the room and
exclaim sorrowfully because his captive cuckoo had escaped from its
cage. He could not imagine what had become of me, and I kept still and
laughed to myself to think how I would presently surprise him.
    "It seemed an age before I finally heard the click that opened the door
in front of me. Then the platform on which I sat sprang out, and I
fluttered my wings and yelled 'Cuck-oo! Cuck-oo!' as loud as I could.
The old man was standing right in front of me, his mouth wide open with
astonishment at the wonderfully natural performance of his wooden bird,
as he thought me. He shouted 'Bravo!' again, and clapped his hands; and
at that I flew straight into his face, and clawed his white hair with
all my might, and screamed as loud as I could.
    "He screamed, too, being taken by surprise, and tumbled over backward
so that he sat down upon the floor with a loud bump. I flew to the
work-bench, and then the truth dawned upon him that I was not the
wooden bird but the real one.
    "'Good gracious!' said he, 'I've left the window open. The rascal