Summary

The narrator tells an anecdote about how Stuart was once trapped in the refrigerator by his mother because she did not see him there and shut the door. This accident gives Stuart bronchitis, so he must lay in bed. While Stuart is recovering, a bird named Margalo is injured on the Little’s windowsill. The Littles take Margalo in so she can heal.

Stuart meets Margalo, who tells him she “come[s] from fields once tall with wheat, from pastures deep in fern and thistle… from vales of meadowsweet, and I love to whistle” (51). Stuart is immediately enamored with Margalo, thinking “he had never seen any creature so beautiful as this tiny bird, and he already loved her” (52). He tells her that he “hope[s]… my parents have fixed you up with a decent place to sleep” (52).

After Margalo goes to bed, Stuart...