LITMIR.BIZ

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his hand before his eyes lest the sun should blind him. “Bird,” said he, “how beautifully thou canst sing!” Then he called in at his door, “Wife, just come outside, there is a bird, look at that bird, he just can sing well.” Then he called his daughter and children, and apprentices, boys and girls, and they all came up the street and looked at the bird and saw how beautiful he was, and what fine red and green feathers he had, and how like real gold his neck was, and how the eyes in his head shone like stars. “Bird,” said the shoemaker, “now sing me that song again.” “Nay,” said the bird, “I do not sing twice for nothing; thou must give me something.” “Wife,” said the man, “go to the garret, upon the top shelf there stands a pair of red shoes, bring them down.” Then the wife went and brought the shoes. “There, bird,” said the man, “now sing me that piece again.” Then the bird came and took the shoes in his left claw, and flew back on the roof, and sang,

      “My mother she killed me,

      My father he ate me,

      My sister, little Marlinchen,

      Gathered together all my bones,

      Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

      Laid them beneath the juniper-tree,

      Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!”

      And when he had sung the whole he flew away. In his right claw he had the chain and the shoes in his left, and he flew far away to a mill, and the mill went, “klipp klapp, klipp klapp, klipp klapp,” and in the mill sat twenty miller’s men hewing a stone, and cutting, hick hack, hick hack, hick hack, and the mill went klipp klapp, klipp klapp, klipp klapp. Then the bird went and sat on a lime-tree which stood in front of the mill, and sang,

      “My mother she killed me,”

      Then one of them stopped working,

      “My father he ate me.”

      Then two more stopped working and listened to that,

      “My sister, little Marlinchen,”

      Then four more stopped,

      “Gathered together all my bones,

      Tied them in a silken handkerchief,”

      Now eight only were hewing,

      “Laid them beneath”

      Now only five,

      “The juniper-tree,”

      And now only one,

      “Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!”

      Then the last stopped also, and heard the last words. “Bird,” said he, “how beautifully thou singest! Let me, too, hear that. Sing that once more for me.”

      “Nay,” said the bird, “I will not sing twice for nothing. Give me the millstone, and then I will sing it again.”

      “Yes,” said he, “if it belonged to me only, thou shouldst have it.”

      “Yes,” said the others, “if he sings again he shall have it.” Then the bird came down, and the twenty millers all set to work with a beam and raised the stone up. And the bird stuck his neck through the hole, and put the stone on as if it were a collar, and flew on to the tree again, and sang,

      “My mother she killed me,

      My father he ate me,

      My sister, little Marlinchen,

      Gathered together all my bones,

      Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

      Laid them beneath the juniper-tree,

      Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!”

      And when he had done singing, he spread his wings, and in his right claw he had the chain, and in his left the shoes, and round his neck the millstone, and he flew far away to his father’s house.

      In the room sat the father, the mother, and Marlinchen at dinner, and the father said, “How light-hearted I feel, how happy I am!” “Nay,” said the mother, “I feel so uneasy, just as if a heavy storm were coming.” Marlinchen, however, sat weeping and weeping, and then came the bird flying, and as it seated itself on the roof the father said, “Ah, I feel so truly happy, and the sun is shining so beautifully outside, I feel just as if I were about to see some old friend again.” “Nay,” said the woman, “I feel so anxious, my teeth chatter, and I seem to have fire in my veins.” And she tore her stays open, but Marlinchen sat in a corner crying, and held her plate before her eyes and cried till it was quite wet. Then the bird sat on the juniper tree, and sang,

      “My mother she killed me,”

      Then the mother stopped her ears, and shut her eyes, and would not see or hear, but there was a roaring in her ears like the most violent storm, and her eyes burnt and flashed like lightning,

      “My father he ate me,”

      “Ah, mother,” says the man, “that is a beautiful bird! He sings so splendidly, and the sun shines so warm, and there is a smell just like cinnamon.”

      “My sister, little Marlinchen,”

      Then Marlinchen laid her head on her knees and wept without ceasing, but the man said, “I am going out, I must see the bird quite close.” “Oh, don’t go,” said the woman, “I feel as if the whole house were shaking and on fire.” But the man went out and looked at the bird:

      “Gathered together all my bones,

      Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

      Laid them beneath the juniper tree,

      Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!”

      On this the bird let the golden chain fall, and it fell exactly round the man’s neck, and so exactly round it that it fitted beautifully. Then he went in and said, “Just look what a fine bird that is, and what a handsome gold chain he has given me, and how pretty he is!” But the woman was terrified, and fell down on the floor in the room, and her cap fell off her head. Then sang the bird once more,

      “My mother she killed me.”

      “Would that I were a thousand feet beneath the earth so as not to hear that!”

      “My father he ate me,”

      Then the woman fell down again as if dead.

      “My sister, little Marlinchen,”

      “Ah,” said Marlinchen, “I too will go out and see if the bird will give me anything,” and she went out.

      “Gathered together all my bones,

      Tied them in a silken handkerchief,”

      Then he threw down the shoes to her.

      “Laid them beneath the juniper-tree,

      Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!”

      Then she was light-hearted and joyous, and she put on the new red shoes, and danced and leaped into the house. “Ah,” said she, “I was so sad when I went out and now I am so light-hearted; that is a splendid bird, he has given me a pair of red shoes!” “Well,” said the woman, and sprang to her feet and her hair stood up like flames of fire, “I feel as if the world were coming to an end! I, too, will go out and see if my heart feels lighter.” And as she went out at the door, crash! the bird threw down the millstone on her head, and she was entirely crushed by it. The father and Marlinchen heard what had happened and went out, and smoke, flames, and fire were rising from the place, and when that was over, there stood the little brother, and he took his father and Marlinchen by the hand, and all three were right glad, and they went into the house to dinner, and ate.

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