"Whither away, Mrs. Sparrow and Mr. Rat?"
Said the Hen Sparrow, "My friend Mr. Rat is pulling me along in my
carriage of straw to punish a cruel boy who threw a stone at my husband
and killed him."
"Quite right too," said the Scorpion. "May I come and help you? I have a
beautiful sting in my tail."
"Oh, please do! come and get in," said the Sparrow.
In got the Scorpion, and away they went. By-and-by they saw a Snake.
"Good day, and God bless you," says the Snake. "Where are you going, may
a mere reptile ask?"
"Mr. Scorpion and I are going to punish a cruel boy who threw a stone
and killed my husband."
"Shall I come and help you?" asked the Snake. "I have fine teeth in my
head to bite with."
"The more the merrier," replied Mrs. Sparrow. So in he got. They had not
gone far before who should meet them but a Wolf.
"Hullo," says the Wolf gruffly; "where are you off to, I should like to
know?"
"Mr. Rat is kind enough to draw me in my carriage, and we are all going
to punish a cruel boy who threw a stone and killed my poor husband."
"May I come too?" growled the Wolf. "I can bite." He opened his big jaws
and snarled.
"Oh, how kind you are!" said Mrs. Sparrow. "Do come! jump in, jump in!"
The poor Rat looked aghast at such a load to pull; but he was a
gentlemanly Rat, and so, having offered to pull the carriage, he said
nothing.
So the big Wolf got in, and nearly sat on the Scorpion's tail; if he
had, he wouldn't have sat long, I think. However, the Scorpion got out
of the way, and on they went all four, the poor Rat pulling with all his
might, but rather slow at that.
In due time they arrived at the cruel boy's house. His mother was
cooking the dinner, and his father was fast asleep in a chair. There was
a river close by the house, and the Wolf went down to the river, and
hid himself there; the Snake crawled among the peats, and the Scorpion
began to climb up into the chair where the man was sleeping.