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96 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON |
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eat, and a roof to shelter us, we should spend it as a holy day.
She quite agreed, and having told the boys, we sat down near the table for supper. My wife took from the fire an earthen pot, and, raising the cover, she drew out of it, with a fork, the flamingo which Fritz had killed. She told us that she had preferred cooking it in this way to roasting it, because Ernest had said it was an old bird, which would be better stewed. We chaffed our greedy boy a little at this, and his brothers gave him the name of the cook. However, we felt obliged to him all the same, for the bird was excellent, and was eaten up to the very bones.
While we were enjoying it, the live flamingo stalked up to the place where we were sitting. He was so tame that we had released him from the stake. His fine plumage was most beautiful. He took his walks gravely from place to place, and looked seriously on life; while, on the other hand, the tricks and the grimaces of our monkey amused us much. The little animal had become quite familiar with us; jumped from shoulder to shoulder; always caught adroitly what we threw to him, and ate it so eagerly that we laughed heartily.
The boys now lighted one of the heaps of wood. |
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