How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
When the boy began to walk by himself and even to move more quickly it was an immense relief. But for a long time—or it seemed a long time to the robin—he was a source of some anxiety. He did not act as the other humans did. He seemed very fond of walking but he had a way of sitting or lying down for a while and then getting up in a disconcerting manner to begin again.
One day the robin remembered that when he himself had been made to learn to fly by his parents he had done much the same sort of thing. He had taken short flights of a few yards and then had been obliged to rest. So it occurred to him that this boy was learning to fly—or rather to walk. (25.4-5)
It took us by surprise to read this sudden, literal bird's-eye view on Colin's process of learning to walk, told from the point of view of the robin who lives in the Secret Garden. However, it reminds us of that earlier comparison Dickon makes between the Secret Garden and a nest (read our thoughts on the quote for 11.91-4 above for more on this). Colin is learning to walk as clumsily as baby birds first learn to fly; however, he's learning in the homey, nest-like comfort of the Secret Garden.