noon
And it was better , although it could not exactly be termed `` good . '' Wolfgang was not lazy , but his thoughts were always wandering . Learning did not interest him . He had other things to think about : would the last leaves in the garden have fallen when he got home from school at noon ? And would the starling , for whom he had nailed the little box high up in the pine-tree , come again next spring ? It had picked off all the black berries from the elderberry , and had then gone away screaming ; if it did not find any more elderberries , what would it eat then ? And the boy 's heart was heavy with grief -- if only he had given it a little bag of berries when it went away .