Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-04-05

! Freddie S Riddle
| Bird
ooh, grandmother, grandmother,
look out of the window, quick" cried
little Freddie Tyler to his grandmoth.
or, who sat BY the fire, knitting. 1.-THE
rain is turning to snowballs! Hurry,
Grandmother Tyler, and see it,"
Grandmother went out and stood by
Freddie and looked out Of the win
dow. Sure enough, the rain had
turned to snow, but instead of flakes
the snow fell in large pieces which
looked Hike tiny snowballs.
The little punches fell on the walk,
on the lawn, on the bushes, and on the
low stone wall In front of the house.
But instead Of covering the ground
they were scattered here and there on
tn grass, and lay in small white Jumps
on the stone wall.
snow?" said Freddie.
EYES," said grandmother, "but not
very often. When was little girl
we used to call the little balls like
these 'blobs' of snow. This kind Of
snowstorm doesn't last very long, but
it is very pretty"
They gazed far up In the sky where
the 'blobs" came from, and up there
they looked gray, but when they
reached the ground they were white
as the whitest doves.
All at once the snow stopped fall
ing, the clouds sailed away and the
sun shone out warm and bright. It
shone so warm on the "blobs" Of snow
that it melted them all away, and then
1t shone on the walk and on the wall,
and dried up the water where the
snow had melted.
Grandmother went back to her knit
ting, and Freddie went to play with
the railroad he was building from the
sofa to the bookcase. BY and by
grandmother took q pencil and some
paper from her bag and began to write
and this is Hhat she wrote:
A Riddle for Freddie.
White bird, featherless,
Flew out Of PARKWAY,
Lit on the Tylers' wall
Up came Lord Landless,
Took 1t up handless,
Ate 1t up toothless,
And rode away horseless.
When 1t was too dark to play rail.
reading any more or to knit, grand
mother took Freddie on her lap and
read to him what she had written on
the paper. She told him he had seen
the bird and asked him to tell her
what It was.
ooh, I'm sure l don't know" said
Freddie. II never saw bird without
feathers"
Think hard" said grandmother, "for
only little while ago you saw the
strange thing happened this after.
noon?"
IT know, know" cried Freddie.
clapping his hands. "The snow, the
funny snow! The balls did look like
little white birds sitting on the wall,
but no one came and got them, grand
mother"
what did happen to them p asked
grandmother.
"Why, the sun shone on them and
melted Them" said Freddie
EYES," said grandmother, 1T did.
and isn't
ooh. oh. don't tell, grandmother"
cried Freddie, his eyes shining. Let
me guess. Was Lord Landless the
SUM-"
"Yes, that's right. You've guessed
who Lord Landless was, now guess
the rest" said grandmother, patting
Freddie on the shoulder.
Freddie sat for few minutes look
ing into the fire and thinking very
hard. Then he said:
1.-THE white bird. featherless,' was
the snow, wasn't it?"
Grandmother nodded her head.
"And Lord Landless' was the sun,
because he hasn't any land, but lives
in the sky"
And grandmother nodded her head
again.
"Lord Landless melted the snow SO
he took it up without any hands and
he shone SO warm on It that he dried
up all the water, SO he ate 1t without
any teeth, and of course he rode away
without any horse, for the sun just
travels along in the sky by itself. Oh,
grandmother, what lots Of riddles you
know. Did you make this one up?"
for grandmother was quite famous
riddle maker.
mo, Freddie" said grandmother.
"This was riddle my mother told me,
when was a little girl, but changed
It to fit our wall. It was castle wall
in my riddle"
"1t's the best one you've ever told
me-" said Freddie, "and at school to-
morrow I'm going to see II any one
can guess 1t. shall call it my Riddle
Bird and most know that none Of
the boys in my class will guess what
kind Of bird it is. Do you think
they will, grandmother"
And grandmother said, Perhaps
not"
Helen Brown School Com