ONCE there was a pair of Sparrows that were very fond of each other, and
lived in a nest together as happy as the day was long. The hen laid eggs
and sat upon them, and the cock went about picking up food for them
both, and when he had got food enough, he sat on a twig close by the
nest, and twittered for joy.
But it happened one day that a boy saw Cock Sparrow pecking at some
seeds, and he picked up a stone and threw it at him, and killed him. So
no food came home that morning, and Hen Sparrow grew anxious, and at
last set out to find him.
In a little while she found his dead body lying in a ditch. She ruffled
up her feathers and began to cry. "Who can have killed him?" she said;
"my poor kind husband, who never did harm to any one." Then a Raven flew
down from a tree, where he had been sitting, and told her how a cruel
boy had thrown a stone at him and killed him for sport. He saw it, said
the Raven, as he was sitting on the tree.
Now Hen Sparrow determined to have her revenge. She was so much
troubled that she left her eggs to hatch themselves, or to addle if they
would; and gathering some straw, she plaited it into a beautiful straw
carriage, with two old cotton-reels for wheels, and sticks for the
shafts. Then she went to the hole of a Rat who was a friend of hers, and
called down the hole, "Mr. Rat! Mr. Rat!"
"Yes, Mrs. Sparrow," said the Rat, coming out of the hole and making a
polite bow.
"Some one has thrown a stone at my husband and killed him. Will you help
me to get my revenge?"
"Why," said the Rat, "how can I help you?"
"By pulling me along in my carriage," said Mrs. Sparrow.
"Oh yes," said the Rat; "that I will." So he went down into his hole
again, and washed his face, and combed his whiskers, and came up all
spick and span.
Mrs. Sparrow tied the shafts of the straw carriage to the Rat, and Mrs.
Sparrow got in, and off they went.