"Then I'll come with you," said the River.
"Jump into my ear," says the Blackbird.
Blackbird's ears were pretty full by this time, but he found room
somewhere for the River, and away he went.
Blackbird marched along until he came to the palace of the King. He
knocked at the door, thump, thump.
"Who's there?" said the Porter.
"General Blackbird, come to make war upon the King, and get back his
wife."
The Porter laughed so at the sight of General Blackbird, with his thorn,
and his frogskin, and his drum, that he nearly fell off his chair. Then
he escorted Blackbird into the King's presence.
"What do you want?" said the King.
"I want my wife," said the Blackbird, beating upon his drum,
rub-a-dub-dub, rub-a-dub-dub.
"You shan't have her," said the King.
"Then," said the Blackbird, "you must take the consequences."
Rub-a-dub-dub went the drum.
"Seize this insolent bird," said the King, "and shut him up in the
henhouse. I don't think there will be much left of him in the morning."
The servants shut up Blackbird in the henhouse. When all the world was
asleep, Blackbird said--
"Come out, Pussy, from my ear,
There are fowls in plenty here;
Scratch them, make their feathers fly,
Wring their necks until they die."
Out came Pussy-cat in an instant. What a confusion there was in the
henhouse. Cluck-cluck-cluck went the hens, flying all over the place;
but no use: Pussy got them all, and scratched out their feathers, and
wrung their necks. Then she went back into Blackbird's ear, and
Blackbird went to sleep.
When morning came, the King said to his men, "Go, fetch the carcass of
that insolent bird, and give the Chickens an extra bushel of corn." But
when they entered the henhouse, Blackbird was singing away merrily on
the roost, and all the fowls lay around in heaps with their necks wrung.
They told the King, and an angry King was he. "To-night," said he, "you
must shut up Blackbird in the stable." So Blackbird was shut up in the
stable, among the wild Horses.