one afternoon they went to a part of the forest where the ground was damp and all was strange. the father and mother told their children to keep close together and they would take care of them; but the foolish young blue jay wanted a chance to go alone, so he hid behind a tree until the others were far ahead, and then he started off another way. it was great fun for a time, and when the feathered folk looked down at him he raised his crest higher than ever and thought how he would scare them when he was a little older.