<h2>VIII</h2>
<h3>JOLLY IS LEFT BEHIND</h3></div>
<p>All of Jolly Robin’s friends and relations
were greatly surprised when they saw him
bidding his wife and children good-by,
on the day the Robin family started from
Pleasant Valley for their winter home in
the South.</p>
<p>“What’s this?” they cried. “Aren’t
you coming with us?”</p>
<p>And Jolly Robin laughed and said to
them gaily:</p>
<p>“Not to-day! But you’ll find me waiting
for you when you reach your journey’s
end.”</p>
<p>His wife, however, shook her head.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_39' name='page_39'></SPAN>39</span></p>
<p>“It’s one of his queer notions—his and
Jasper Jay’s,” she explained.</p>
<p>“Tut, tut!” her husband said. And he
chucked her under the chin—and winked
at his friends.</p>
<p>There was no time to say anything
more, for everyone was eager to start. So
the travellers called good-by to Jolly,
while he waved a farewell to them.</p>
<p>It was not many minutes before he was
the only member of the Robin family left
in Pleasant Valley. He felt very lonely,
all at once. And he wanted to hurry after
the others. But he knew what Jasper Jay
would say, if he did. Jasper would be sure
to tell people that Jolly Robin was <i>afraid</i>
to travel a new way.... Of course, Jolly
didn’t want that to be said about him. So
he looked as cheerful as he could; and he
whistled the merriest tune he knew. Nobody—except
his wife, maybe—would
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_40' name='page_40'></SPAN>40</span>
have guessed that he wasn’t perfectly
happy.</p>
<p>Jolly spent a very lonely night. When
he went to the roost where the whole
Robin family had been sleeping for several
weeks, he found it distressingly silent,
after the gay chatter that he had
grown accustomed to hearing there. And
try as he would, he could not keep just a
hint of sadness out of his good-night song.</p>
<p>But in the morning he felt better. And
he welcomed the dawn with a carol that
was joyous enough for anybody. For this
was the day when Jasper Jay was going
to show him the new way to travel. Yes!
he, too, would soon be hurrying southwards,
where the sun was warm.</p>
<p>It was no wonder that he sang, “<i>Cheerily-cheerup,
cheerily-cheerup</i>,” right merrily.</p>
<p>As soon as he had eaten his breakfast,
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_41' name='page_41'></SPAN>41</span>
Jolly went to the place where the beeches
grew, to find Jasper Jay. And Jasper
was there, just finishing his own breakfast.
But he was too busy, he said, to
bother with Jolly Robin just then.</p>
<p>“You meet me in the orchard this afternoon,”
he said, “when the sun’s over
the mountain, and I’ll start you on your
journey.”</p>
<p>So Jolly Robin had to wait all the long
day, while Jasper Jay did a hundred silly
things, such as mocking Farmer Green’s
cat, and teasing a sleepy young owl, and
making the woods echo with his hoarse
screams. Jasper was late, too, in keeping
his appointment in the orchard. Jolly
Robin waited for him until almost sunset
before Jasper Jay appeared. But Jolly
was so glad to see Jasper that he never
once thought of being angry with him.</p>
<p>“Come along!” said the blue-coated
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_42' name='page_42'></SPAN>42</span>
rascal. “Follow me and you’ll soon learn the
new way to the South. And if it isn’t a
good one I hope I’ll never eat another
beechnut.”</p>
<p>Jolly Robin laughed. He was sure,
then, that he had nothing to worry about.
For everybody knew that Jasper Jay was
specially fond of beechnuts.</p>
<hr class='major' />
<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_43' name='page_43'></SPAN>43</span>
<SPAN name='IX_JOLLYS_MISTAKE' id='IX_JOLLYS_MISTAKE'></SPAN>
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