How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
He could only say that he was sure that the Eggs would never flap about in such a manner; but as the boy who could speak robin so fluently was doing the thing with them, birds could be quite sure that the actions were not of a dangerous nature. Of course neither the robin nor his mate had ever heard of the champion wrestler, Bob Haworth, and his exercises for making the muscles stand out like lumps. Robins are not like human beings; their muscles are always exercised from the first and so they develop themselves in a natural manner. If you have to fly about to find every meal you eat, your muscles do not become atrophied (atrophied means wasted away through want of use). (25.6)
We definitely agree that, to robins, watching humans work out to build muscle must seem deeply stupid. Why would a robin worry about keeping in shape? But most of us have grown so far from the need to make our own nests or to gather our own food that we can't exactly imitate a robin's lifestyle to keep in shape.