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Title: Grimm's Fairy Tales: The Dog and the Sparrow
Date of first publication: 1930
Author: Jacob Grimm (1785-1863)
Author: Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859)
Illustrator: Noel Pocock (1880-1955)
Date first posted: October 3 2012
Date last updated: October 3 2012
Faded Page eBook #20121002

This ebook was produced by: David Edwards, Delphine Lettau
& the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net

(This file was produced from images generously made available by
The Internet Archive/American Libraries).




The Dog and the Sparrow


A shepherd's dog had a master who took no care of him, but often let
him suffer the greatest hunger. At last he could bear it no longer; so
he took to his heels, and off he ran in a very sad and sorrowful mood.
On the road he met a sparrow, that said to him, "Why are you so sad,
my friend?" "Because," said the dog, "I am very very hungry, and have
nothing to eat." "If that be all," answered the sparrow, "come with me
into the next town, and I will soon find you plenty of food." So on they
went together into the town: and as they passed by a butcher's shop, the
sparrow said to the dog, "Stand there a little while, till I peck you
down a piece of meat." So the sparrow perched upon the shelf: and having
first looked carefully about her to see if any one was watching her,
she pecked and scratched at a steak that lay upon the edge of the shelf,
till at last down it fell. Then the dog snapped it up, and scrambled
away with it into a corner, where he soon ate it all up. "Well," said
the sparrow, "you shall have some more if you will; so come with me to
the next shop, and I will peck you down another steak." When the dog had
eaten this too, the sparrow said to him, "Well, my good friend, have you
had enough now?" "I have had plenty of meat," answered he, "but I should
like to have a piece of bread to eat after it." "Come with me then,"
said the sparrow, "and you shall soon have that too." So she took him
to a baker's shop, and pecked at two rolls that lay in the window, till
they fell down: and as the dog still wished for more, she took him to
another shop and pecked down some more for him. When that was eaten, the
sparrow asked him whether he had had enough now. "Yes," said he; "and
now let us take a walk a little way out of the town." So they both went
out upon the high road: but as the weather was warm, they had not gone
far before the dog said, "I am very much tired,--I should like to take
a nap." "Very well," answered the sparrow, "do so, and in the meantime
I will perch upon that bush." So the dog stretched himself out on the
road, and fell fast asleep. Whilst he slept, there came by a carter with
a cart drawn by three horses, and loaded with two casks of wine. The
sparrow, seeing that the carter did not turn out of the way, but would
go on in the track in which the dog lay, so as to drive over him, called
out, "Stop! stop! Mr. Carter, or it shall be the worse for you." But the
carter, grumbling to himself, "You make it the worse for me, indeed! what
can you do!" cracked his whip, and drove his cart over the poor dog, so
that the wheels crushed him to death. "There," cried the sparrow, "thou
cruel villain, thou hast killed my friend the dog. Now mind what I say.
This deed of thine shall cost thee all thou art worth." "Do your worst,
and welcome," said the brute, "what harm can you do me?" and passed on.
But the sparrow crept under the tilt of the cart, and pecked at the bung
of one of the casks till she loosened it; and then all the wine ran out,
without the carter seeing it. At last he looked round, and saw that the
cart was dripping and the cask quite empty. "What an unlucky wretch I
am!" cried he. "Not wretch enough yet!" said the sparrow, as she alighted
upon the head of one of the horses, and pecked at him till he reared up
and kicked. When the carter saw this, he drew out his hatchet and aimed
a blow at the sparrow, meaning to kill her; but she flew away, and the
blow fell upon the poor horse's head with such force, that he fell down
dead. "Unlucky wretch that I am!" cried he. "Not wretch enough yet!"
said the sparrow. And as the carter went on with the other two horses,
she again crept under the tilt of the cart, and pecked out the bung
of the second cask, so that all the wine ran out. When the carter saw
this, he again cried out, "Miserable wretch that I am!" But the sparrow
answered "Not wretch enough yet!" and perched on the head of the second
horse, and pecked at him too. The carter ran up and struck at her again
with his hatchet; but away she flew, and the blow fell upon the second
horse and killed him on the spot. "Unlucky wretch that I am!" said he.
"Not wretch enough yet!" said the sparrow; and perching upon the third
horse, she began to peck him too. The carrier was mad with fury; and
without looking about him, or caring what he was about, struck again at
the sparrow; but killed his third horse as he had done the other two.
"Alas! miserable wretch that I am!" cried he. "Not wretch enough yet!"
answered the sparrow as she flew away; "now will I plague and punish
thee at thy own house." The carter was forced at last to leave his cart
behind him, and to go home overflowing with rage and vexation. "Alas!"
said he to his wife, "what ill luck has befallen me!--my wine is all
spilt, and my horses all three dead." "Alas! husband," replied she, "and
a wicked bird has come into the house, and has brought with her all the
birds in the world, I am sure, and they have fallen upon our corn in
the loft, and are eating it up at such a rate!" Away ran the husband
upstairs, and saw thousands of birds sitting upon the floor eating up
his corn, with the sparrow in the midst of them. "Unlucky wretch that
I am!" cried the carter; for he saw that the corn was almost all gone.
"Not wretch enough yet!" said the sparrow; "thy cruelty shall cost thee
thy life yet!" and away she flew.

The carter seeing that he had thus lost all that he had, went down into
his kitchen; and was still not sorry for what he had done, but sat
himself angrily and sulkily in the chimney corner. But the sparrow sat
on the outside of the window, and cried, "Carter! thy cruelty shall cost
thee thy life!" With that he jumped up in a rage, seized his hatchet,
and threw it at the sparrow; but it missed her, and only broke the
window. The sparrow now hopped in, perched upon the window-seat, and
cried, "Carter! it shall cost thee thy life!" Then he became mad and
blind with rage, and struck the window seat with such force that he
cleft it in two: and as the sparrow flew from place to place, the carter
and his wife were so furious, that they broke all their furniture,
glasses, chairs, benches, the table, and at last the walls, without
touching the bird at all. In the end, however, they caught her: and the
wife said, "Shall I kill her at once?" "No," cried he, "that is letting
her off too easily: she shall die a much more cruel death; I will eat
her." But the sparrow began to flutter about, and stretched out her
neck and cried, "Carter! it shall cost thee thy life yet!" With that he
could wait no longer: so he gave his wife the hatchet, and cried, "Wife,
strike at the bird and kill her in my hand." And the wife struck; but
she missed her aim, and hit her husband on the head so that he fell down
dead, and the sparrow flew quietly home to her nest.


[The end of _Grimm's Fairy Tales: The Dog and the Sparrow_
by the Brothers Grimm]