By the early afternoon, Algy had carried every one of his baubles to the forest, and had hung them all on his Christmas tree. Poor Algy was utterly exhausted! It was getting very chilly now, and a typical West Highland mixture of hail and sleet had started to fall, but Algy was too tired to care. Making sure that his feathers were well fluffed up, to keep out the cold and damp, he tucked himself under the shelter of his tree and quickly fell asleep, happy that he had managed to decorate the little tree in time for Christmas Eve.

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As soon as Algy had found his Christmas tree, he rushed back to the place where he had stored his baubles. It was almost Christmas Eve now, and he had very little time left in which to dress the tree. He knew that it would be quite impossible for him to drag the whole bag of baubles to the forest on foot, so he decided to bring them two or three at a time by air. If he flew very carefully, he could carry them by grasping their ribbons in his beak. So Algy spent the whole day flying backwards and forwards from the burn to the forest, and gradually he began to decorate the little tree…

When he investigated more closely, Algy was amazed to discover that the objects caught in the crevices of the rock were baubles. Some seemed to be made of a thick but transparent glass, and some had a shiny if rather weathered silver finish, which glinted and gleamed when they caught the light. So far as he could see, they were all intact, although worn in places of course, and each had an oddly-coloured scrap of fabric attached. Algy was so thrilled! If he could just manage to collect them up before the tide washed them away again, he would have his very own Christmas decorations …