Grimm's Household Tales

A sheepdog did not have a good master but, on the contrary, one who let him suffer hunger. As he could stay no longer with him, he went away quite sadly. On the road he met a sparrow, who said, “Brother dog, why are you so sad?” The dog replied, “I am hungry and have nothing to eat.” Then the sparrow said, “Dear brother, come into the town with me, and I will satisfy your hunger.” So they went into the town together, and when they came in front of a butcher’s shop, the sparrow said to the dog, “Stay there, and I will pick a bit of meat down for you.” He alighted on the stall, looked around to make sure that no one was watching him, and pecked and pulled and tore at a piece that lay on the edge for so long that it slipped down. Then the dog seized it, ran into a corner, and devoured it. The sparrow said, “Now come with me to another shop, and I will get you one more piece so that you may be satisfied.” When the dog had devoured the second piece as well, the sparrow asked, “Brother dog, have you had enough now?” “Yes, I have had enough meat,” he answered, “but I have had no bread yet.” The sparrow said, “You shall have that also. Come with me.” Then he took him to a baker’s shop and pecked at a couple of little buns until they rolled down, and as the dog wanted still more, he led him to another stall and again got bread for him. When that was eaten, the sparrow said, “Brother dog, have you had enough now?” “Yes,” he replied, “now we will walk for a while outside the town.” Then they both went out onto the highway. It was warm weather, however, and when they had walked a little way, the dog said, “I am tired and would like to sleep.” “Well, do sleep,” answered the sparrow, “and in the meantime I will sit on a branch.” So the dog lay down on the road and fell fast asleep. While he lay sleeping there, a wagoner came driving by, who had a cart with three horses, loaded with two barrels of wine. The sparrow saw that he was not going to turn aside but was staying in the wheel track where the dog was lying, so it cried, “Wagoner, don’t do it, or I will make you poor.” The wagoner, however, growled to himself, “You will not make me poor,” and cracked his whip and drove the cart over the dog, and the wheels killed him. Then the sparrow cried, “You have run over my brother dog and killed him. It shall cost you your cart and horses.” “Cart and horses, indeed!” said the wagoner. “What harm can you do me?” and he drove onward. Then the sparrow crept under the cover of the cart and pecked at the same bunghole for so long that he got the bung out, and then all the wine ran out without the driver noticing it. But once, when he was looking behind him, he saw that the cart was dripping, and he looked at the barrels and saw that one of them was empty. “Unfortunate fellow that I am,” he cried. “Not unfortunate enough yet,” said the sparrow, and he flew onto the head of one of the horses and pecked his eyes out. When the driver saw that, he drew out his axe and wanted to hit the sparrow, but the sparrow flew into the air, and he hit his horse on the head, and it fell down dead. “Oh, what an unfortunate man I am,” he cried. “Not unfortunate enough yet,” said the sparrow, and when the driver drove on with the two horses, the sparrow again crept under the cover and pecked the bung out of the second cask, so that all the wine was spilled. When the driver became aware of it, he again cried, “Oh, what an unfortunate man I am,” but the sparrow replied, “Not unfortunate enough yet,” and sat on the head of the second horse and pecked his eyes out. The driver ran up to it and raised his axe to strike, but the sparrow flew into the air, and the blow struck the horse, which fell. “Oh, what an unfortunate man I am.” “Not unfortunate enough yet,” said the sparrow, and he landed on the third horse’s head and pecked out his eyes. The driver, in his rage, struck at the sparrow without looking around, and did not hit him but killed his third horse as well. “Oh, what an unfortunate man I am,” he cried. “Not unfortunate enough yet,” answered the sparrow. “Now I will make you unfortunate in your home,” and he flew away.

The driver had to leave the wagon standing and went home, full of anger and vexation. “Ah,” he said to his wife, “what misfortunes I have had! My wine has run out, and the horses are all three dead!” “Alas, husband,” she answered, “what a malicious bird has come into the house! It has gathered together every bird there is in the world, and they have fallen on our corn up there and are devouring it.” Then he went upstairs, and thousands and thousands of birds were sitting in the loft and had eaten up all the corn, and the sparrow was sitting in the midst of them. Then the driver cried, “Oh, what an unfortunate man I am!”

“Not unfortunate enough yet!” answered the sparrow. “Wagoner, it shall cost you your life as well,” and he flew out.

Then the wagoner, having lost all his property, went downstairs into the room, sat down behind the stove, and was quite furious and bitter. But the sparrow sat outside in front of the window and cried, “Wagoner, it shall cost you your life.” Then the wagoner snatched the axe and threw it at the sparrow, but it only broke the window and did not hit the bird. The sparrow now hopped in, placed itself on the stove, and cried, “Wagoner, it shall cost you your life.” The wagoner, quite mad and blind with rage, struck the stove in two, and as the sparrow flew from one place to another, the same thing happened to all his household furniture: the mirror, the benches, the table, and at last the walls of his house; and yet he could not hit the bird. At length, however, he caught it with his hand. Then his wife said, “Shall I kill it?” “No,” he cried, “that would be too merciful. It shall die much more cruelly,” and he took it and swallowed it whole. The sparrow, however, began to flutter about in his body and fluttered up again into the man’s mouth; then it stretched out its head and cried, “Wagoner, it shall still cost you your life.” The driver gave the axe to his wife and said, “Wife, kill the bird in my mouth for me.” The woman struck but missed her blow and hit the wagoner right on his head, so that he fell dead. But the sparrow flew up and away.