Grimms' Fairy Tales online

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 anyone 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 than 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.

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