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The adult fowls of both sexes are fond of nursing the chickens and frequently quarrel over the possession of the little ones, often with fatal results to the younglings. Over half of the chicks die or are killed by kindness.
A cloud of dust rose thick in the air, stirred up by the busy feet and snouts of the multitude, and grunts and squeals were loud and frequent as a frisky party of younglings in their play would heedlessly bump up against some short-tempered old boar, who in his turn would angrily butt a too venturesome rival in the wind and send him, expostulating noisily, down the hill!
Only spirit abides. All else, being mere matter, passes, and must pass. Oh, I do see myself to-day that one man who appeared in the elder world, blonde, ferocious, a killer and a lover, a meat-eater and a root-digger, a gypsy and a robber, who, club in hand, through millenniums of years wandered the world around seeking meat to devour and sheltered nests for his younglings and sucklings.
She kept her younglings warm and dry, but the nest was sadly damaged, the lichen covering was softened and brightened in color, and the whole structure spread and settled, so that I feared it would not hold together till the little ones were grown. There, too, was the ever-present menace of falling apples, which were constantly dropping from the tree.
He knew with regret that he would be alone in this responsibility. In time his race would grow to become what he now was, and so would their Terran cousins; in the meantime, they were younglings, in need of guidance and protection even from themselves . . . and, until the Peacelord's time, from the knowledge of their lost Truehome. It would be an awesome, satisfying task.
He played with the younglings in the nursery, he helped load dishes into the cleaning units, he emptied dust traps and when he wasn't occupied, he welcomed simply being with the n'ruhar who wanted to ask him about the Empire and his experiences in the wilderness. There was unspoken but very real tension in the clan the next morning, and to Tarlac, time seemed to creep and fly simultaneously.
But Gudrun forgat not her woe, but brooded over it, how she might work some mighty shame against the king; and at nightfall she took to her the sons of King Atli and her as they played about the floor; the younglings waxed heavy of cheer, and asked what she would with them. "Ask me not," she said; "ye shall die, the twain of you!"
The little birds furnish the chorus or the undertone of song, the hedge-sparrows, redbreasts, and chaffinches, but the meistersingers 'call the tune, and lead the feathered orchestra with clear and certain notes. It is a golden time for the minstrels, for nest-building is finished, and the feeding of the younglings a good time yet in the future.
The poor boys, who were but shouting and brawling after the nature of mettled youth the most with nought of malice are penned up like sheep for the slaughter ay, and worse than sheep, for we quarter not our mutton alive, whereas these poor younglings babes of thirteen, some of them be indicted for high treason!
I dreaded to see a little foot thrust out at this point, and wondered if my clumsy fingers could perform the delicate task of replacing it. On the morning they were two weeks old a strong wind set in from the northwest, and I drew down the branch with dread of finding it empty. The younglings were wide awake, though settled down into the nest. They looked at me and uttered their soft cries.
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