THE FIFTEENTH TALE OF THE MERRY MEN OF GOTHAM
One spring morning the men of Gotham heard a cuckoo calling from a bush and it made them all think of the delights of spring.
In the hope that they could make it forever springtime, they decided to build a fence around the bush to keep the cuckoo in place so that she would sing there all year. So they built the fence around a bush in the middle of the town, captured a cuckoo and put her in it, promising her that if she stayed in the bush and sang there, no one and nothing would harm her and she’d have all the food and drink she would ever need.
But the cuckoo was distressed when she found herself surrounded by the fence so she flew out through the top.
‘Damn that bird,’ said the people of Gotham. ‘If only we’d built our hedge high enough she would not have flown away and it would have stayed springtime all year round.’