" The little village of M---- only realized this
after it was too late.
The police of M---- all knew that Peter, a half-wit, or "Silly Peter" as
he was called, was perfectly harmless; even though at times he would
litter the streets and market-place with bread crumbs. But the pigeons
of M---- soon cleared the walks.
Peter, it seems, had at an early age dedicated his silly life to the
pigeons. All his cares and sorrows were bound up in the lives of the
birds. In fact it seemed as though he himself became birdlike. He could
flap his arms to his sides and produce that same dull penetrating note
that was given only to this particular species of bird when they flapped
their wings.
At an early age he was left without parents and managed to grow up among
the horses and cows in the barns. But these larger animals were entirely
out of his sphere--he did not understand them.
One day when the lad was about seven years old, the village folks
suddenly noticed that he was lame. When asked about it, all he would
reply was: "The pigeons made me lame."
Luba, a farmer's fat cook, once told at the market-place how Peter
became lame. She told of how the boy stood on the roof of her master's
barn flapping his arms in imitation of the birds encircling his head;
how he sprang in the air in a mad attempt to fly, and fell to the
ground.
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