L2-4-4

As Sylvie climbed slowly down the pine tree, the stranger was waking up back at the farm.

He was smiling, because he was sure from the way the shy little girl had looked at him

that she had seen the white heron.

About an hour later, Sylvie appeared.

Both her grandmother and the young man stood up as she came into the kitchen.

The splendid moment to speak about her secret had come, but Sylvie was silent.

Her grandmother was angry with her, where had she been?

Then the young man's kind eyes looked deeply into Sylvie's own dark grey ones.

He could give Sylvie and her grandmother ten dollars.

He had promised to do this, and they needed the money.

Besides, Sylvie wanted to make him happy, but Sylvie was silent.

She remembered how the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sun rise together from the top of the world.

Sylvie could not speak.

She could not tell the heron's secret and give its life away.

The young man went away disappointed later that day.

Sylvie was sad.

She wanted to be his friend.

He never returned.

But many nights, Sylvie heard the sound of his whistle as she came home with her grandmother's cow.

Were the birds better friends than their hunter might have been?

Who can know?