Mary Poppins

Jane, Michael, and Mary Poppins are walking up Ludgate Hill in the City to visit Mr. Banks at his office. On their way to the office, Mary Poppins looks at her reflection in the shop windows, and eventually, they arrive at St. Paul’s Cathedral. There, they observe the Bird Woman, who lives at the cathedral with the birds because the cathedral “was built a long time ago by a man with a bird’s name” (82): Sir Christopher Wren. The Bird Woman sells bags of breadcrumbs so passers-by can feed the birds, which Mary Poppins call “sparrers” (83) even though “they were not sparrows, but doves and pigeons” (83). Jane and Michael buy bags of breadcrumbs, and Michael asks the Bird Woman a question, though he “knew it was no good asking her” (85) because all she can say is “Feed the Birds, Tuppence a Bag!” (84). When a bird pecks at a flower on Mary Poppins’s hat, she shakes her umbrella at the pigeon and calls it a “sparrer” which offends the pigeon deeply. As they leave the cathedral, Jane tells her story about the birds to Michael, who asks if the story is true; Mary Poppins denies it, but Jane “who always knew everything” (86), says it is.