[Gccg-devel] y, and deep vexation could be r

[Dinkens F. <ion...@gn...>]

 had a fancy for; and this was always something medical, if that is
not too big a word.
I was but a lad of twelve when this fancy first took me, and that
through pure accident. Of course I was fond of wandering about the
workshops, and there they kept a magpie,
a quaint little bird, which my mother had fed out of compassion. It
could
say 'Blockhead,' and call my name and a few other words, and it seemed
to like the noise, for it always

would fly off to where the smiths were hammering and filing their
loudest, and whenever it perched close to one of the anvils
there were sure
to be mirthful faces over the shaping and scraping and polishing.
For many years its sociable ways made it a favorite; but one day it
got caught in a vice and its left leg was broken. Poor little
creature!" The old man stooped to wipe his eyes unseen, but
he went on without pausing:
"It fell on its

back and looked at me so pathetically that I snatched
the tongs out of the bellows-man's hand--for he was going to put an end
to its sufferings in all kindness--and, picking
it up gently, I made up my mind I would cure it. Then I carried
the bird into my own room, and to keep it quiet that it might not hurt
itself, I tied it down to a frame that I contrived, straightened its
little leg, warmed
the injured bone by sucking it, and strapped it to little wooden
splints. And behold it really set: the bird got quite well and
fluttered about the workshops again