A Robin Bedtime Story: The Song With a Borrowed Ending

This original robin bedtime story is ready to read aloud. Rosa practices a new song with her neighbor and finds a comfortable way to finish it. Below the complete story, you will find a small way to adapt it together.

The Song With a Borrowed Ending

Rosa the robin knew a short song. She sang it from the fence every morning, and it always ended with the same bright note. She liked that note. She also wondered what might come after it.

Across the garden, Blackbird sang long winding phrases from the apple tree. His ending curled upward, dipped and rose again. Rosa listened until she could almost feel the shape of it in her throat.

"May I borrow your ending?" she asked.

Blackbird considered. "You can try. It takes quite a lot of breath."

Rosa sang her own beginning, then added his ending. She ran out of air halfway up the curl. The last sound came out as a tiny squeak. A snail on the fence lifted its head, then went back to its leaf.

"Again," said Rosa.

She tried more slowly. This time she reached the dip, but the final rise wobbled. Blackbird sang it once beside her. Together they sounded grand, though Rosa was doing more listening than singing by the end.

They practiced until the garden shadows moved beyond the fence. Rosa's throat wanted a rest. She sat on the apple branch while Blackbird told her where he had first heard that ending.

"From my brother," he said. "He sings it differently. I cannot do his very last bit."

Rosa looked at him. "So you changed it?"

"A little. Otherwise I would still be practicing."

After a drink and a quiet spell, Rosa tried again. She sang her familiar beginning. She added the upward curl from Blackbird's song, then stopped before the long dip. At the end she placed one small chirrup of her own.

The song fitted comfortably. She tried it twice more, changing the space before the chirrup. Blackbird listened with his head tilted.

"That ending is yours now," he said.

"The middle is still visiting from your tree."

Next morning Rosa sang from the fence. Her beginning traveled over the lettuces. The borrowed curl rose above the watering can. Her small chirrup landed neatly at the end.

From the apple tree, Blackbird answered with his longer version. The snail was back on the fence, carrying the same patient expression. Rosa waited for the last note to fade, then sang once more at her own comfortable length.

One optional idea for reading together

Your child can invent Rosa's final little sound. Sing it if you enjoy singing, speak it if you do not, or use the words already on the page. The musical notes are imaginary and do not describe real bird calls. If your listener wants to repeat the ending, leave a pause before Rosa's final phrase so they can supply it.

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