The Little Birdie

Once upon a time, in a community garden area near a small town, two inseparable friends had their gardens next to each other. They helped one another with everything. One of them was an excellent gardener and the other was a skilled carpenter and craftsman, though he also liked gardening very much.

One day, the carpenter greeted his friend.

“Good morning, neighbour! How are you doing today?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” the gardener scratched his head. “Well… Actually, things are not so good. I need a new rabbit hutch. But I don’t really know my way around wood.”

“Don’t worry, neighbour. Leave it to me,” smiled the carpenter. He patted his friend on the back, rubbed his hands together and immediately got down to work.

Another time, it was the other way around.

“Hello, friend,” the gardener said. “Why so blue today?”

“My apple tree,” started the sad carpenter. “It won’t give me any apples.”

“That’s no problem at all, we’ll graft it!” the gardener assured him happily, already rushing off to his shed for the tools.

This is how they were every time one of them needed a hand with anything.

One beautiful sunny day, a songbird made his nest in the apple tree in the carpenter’s garden. Morning after morning and evening after evening it sat there and sang its serenades.

“Hey, neighbour,” the carpenter called out to his friend, who was turning his garden beds. “Do you want to come over and listen to the lovely singing?”

“Not now, I have work to do. Maybe later,” answered the neighbour.

“The work can wait, come on!”

“No, really, I can’t. I’ll come over in the evening,” the stubborn gardener said, and he kept digging.

“Suit yourself,” said the carpenter and sat down on…