The lazy little bird

The lazy little bird

　There was a little bird. He was very nice and very smart, but very lazy. When he had a job to do, he would keep putting it off until there was little time left to do it. His friends kept saying to him, “What a lazy bird you are! You can’t just keep leaving everything to the last minute!”

　The little bird didn’t care about this and said, “I just take a bit longer to get around to doing things. That’s all. I will do it at last.” When autumn came, the birds began to prepare for their long journey to other places with a warmer winter. But the little bird kept putting it off¹, thinking that there would be plenty of time to prepare for the journey. So he prepared nothing at all for this journey.

　On the day of their great journey, the lazy bird couldn’t go with the other birds because he didn’t get ready for that. Finally, he had to spend the whole cold winter all on his own. He then realized that his laziness made him miss the chance to fly to the warmer place. So he decided to do things well and waited for the birds to come back. He looked for food and water and made a lovely warm home.

　When the spring finally arrived, his old friends returned. They were surprised and happy to see the little bird. From then on, the little bird worked hard every day. Before the journey, he got plenty of food and prepared earlier.

Note:

1. 意为：推迟；拖延