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Once upon a time there were two Mockingbirds. They 

had very nice voices and sang beautiful melodies.

It was only natural for the two best singers in the 

woods to discover each other, and together they made 

even more interesting songs.

It wasn’t long before the two Mockingbirds decided to 

get married and build a nest. The birds searched for a 

long time to find just the right tree. They flew into tall 

pines and big oaks and even old, hollow trees, but none 

of them felt right.

Mama Bird said, “The nest must be safe. I don’t want 

other birds to bother my babies.”

Papa Bird said, “It must be hidden in the leaves or pine 

needles so the other birds can’t see it. And I will perch 

high in a tall tree and keep guard.”

They flew around for a few days and at last they finally 

found the right place.

Mama Bird said, “This tree is just perfect. Not too high. 

Not too low.”

“And it looks very safe,” Papa Bird said. “There is a tall 

tree where I can keep watch over you and the babies.”

They started to work. They collected small twigs and 

wove them together into a basket. And when they were 

almost finished they found soft grasses to line the 

inside of the basket so that their eggs wouldn't fall out. 

At last they were finished, and Mama Mockingbird burst 

into a beautiful song.

“You do have a lovely voice,” Papa Mockingbird told her. 

“I love it when you sing like that.”

“I sing because I’m happy,” she trilled as she settled 

down in the nest. “Now it’s time to lay some eggs.”

“I’ll be back soon,” Papa Bird said. “Can I bring you 

anything?”

“Why, thank you. A fat, juicy worm would be delightful,” 

she said. “I like the green caterpillars.”

As soon as he flew away, Mama Bird closed her eyes 

and laid a beautiful, little yellow egg. She looked at it in 

amazement because it was the first egg she had ever 

laid.

“Aren’t you the most beautiful thing?” she said, proud 

of the egg. And during the next hour she laid two more, 

so now she had three beautiful, yellow eggs. Inside 

each one was a baby bird, just waiting to hatch.

“Whew,” she said. “I’m exhausted. I need a drink of 

water.” So she flew down to the stream to get a drink.

When she arrived back at the nest, she was surprised to 

see four eggs. "Maybe I counted wrong," she thought to 

herself. "I could have sworn there were three."

Papa Bird flew in with a huge, wriggling, juicy worm. 

“I hope you’re hungry,” he said. “This worm was so 

heavy I had to stop twice to rest.”

“Oh, boy, am I hungry,” Mama Bird said. “I never knew 

having babies was so much work. Want to see our 

eggs?” She hopped out of the nest so he could take a 

look.

“They’re very pretty,” he said with a worried expression, 

“but they’re so small. I don’t see how a bird could fit 

into a tiny egg like that.”

“Well, trust me,” Mama Bird said, preening her feathers. 

“Soon we’ll have four babies, and they will keep you 

busy catching caterpillars. By the way, would you like to 

sit on these eggs for a few minutes? We have to keep 

them warm, you know.”

“Oh, no,” he said. “I’m way too heavy. I might break 

one. You’d better do the sitting, and I’ll go out for 

meals.”

Mama Bird smiled and sang one of her beautiful 

melodies. The Mockingbirds were very happy.

Every day she took care of the eggs, keeping them 

warm and turning them over. One day she heard a tiny 

noise inside an egg. She put her ear close and listened. 

Peck. Peck. Peck. It was one of her babies trying to get 

out of the egg.

Slowly, it pecked its way around the top of the egg. 

When it had pecked all the way around in a circle, 

Mama Bird saw a little head pop out. It didn’t have any 

feathers. It was all beak and eyes, and she jumped 

back in alarm.

“Are you sure you’re my baby?” she asked. 

“Chirp, chirp,” the Baby Bird answered, which means, 

“Of course, Mama.”

“I’ll name you Frank,” she said.

In a few hours, all the babies had pecked their way out 

of their shells and all were chirping and crying for food. 

She named them Randy, Sandy, and Mandy.

“Oh, dear,” Mama Bird said. “You are all so noisy. Please 

be quiet.” But the baby birds wouldn’t be quiet. They 

chirped some more and grew louder and louder. Soon 

they were jumping up and down, and Mama Bird got 

very upset.

“All right, all right, I’ll go shopping for bugs for you, but 

you have to be quiet while I’m gone. If you make any 

noise, something might get you.”

With that, all the babies grew quiet. They sat back 

down in the nest to wait for their mother to return with 

food.

The minute she appeared, they all jumped up and 

started chirping again. They held their little mouths 

open wide, and she fed each one a bite of worm. Every 

time they ate they were quiet for a minute or so before 

they started to chirp again. And off she flew to bring 

them food. Daddy Bird helped, too, but even with both 

parents working hard, the babies still cried for more.

“Whew, I’m very tired,” Mama Bird said after she 

delivered the last bug. “It’s getting dark, so I can’t see 

to find bugs. Go to sleep and tomorrow I’ll teach you 

some songs.”

She had a plan. Instead of those awful, ear-splitting 

chirps her babies made, she would teach them some of 

her beautiful songs. She knew a pretty one she had 

learned from the Meadowlark just this morning.

But next morning, an interesting thing happened. At 

dawn, just as the birds were all waking up, a fire truck 

roared by. Its siren was very loud. It went, “Oooo-

rooooo-oooo-roooo.”

The next thing Mother Bird heard was four little voices 

crying, “Oooo-roooo-oooo-roooo.” They were so loud 

she put her wings over her ears. “That’s not a proper 

song,” she told her babies. Stop that noise, and I’ll go 

get some bugs.”

Just as she flew away, she heard a car engine start. 

Then she heard the sound the car makes when the 

driver doesn’t put on his seat-belt. “Beep-beep-beep-

beep.” Sure enough, she could hear her babies start to 

make the same sound.

“These babies are driving me crazy,” she said to Daddy 

Bird. “All those non-bird sounds. Why can’t they make 

pretty songs like we do?”

"Oh, they’re young. They’ll learn some more songs,” he 

said. “I’ll teach them a nice Mockingbird song. 

He twittered his tail sideways and opened and closed 

his wings a few times to get their attention. He puffed 

out his chest and began to sing. It was a beautiful 

melody, one he had learned from a red-winged 

blackbird.

The babies listened, but as soon as Papa Bird stopped 

singing, a construction worker came up the road driving 

a bull dozer It was in low gear, so its engine went, 

“rrrrrrrrrrr”. He shifted gears, and it went 

“RRRRRRRRR.” Then a car passed the tractor and blew 

its horn to warn the farmer that it was coming by. The 

horn went “BEEEEEEP.”

Daddy Bird turned back to the babies and heard them 

all start to sing at once. “Oooo-rooo-oooo-roooo, Beep-

beep, RRRRRRR, Beep-beep-beep.” One baby had even 

learned the tune of a ringing telephone, and another 

made the sound of a helicopter.

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