There was once a woman who had no little children of her own; every
day she used to watch the sparrows building their nests, and bringing
up their young, and it so happened that one day a mother bird died,
leaving several young ones. After a time a new mother bird was brought,
and she was not at all good to the young fledglings.
The woman felt hurt for them, and said to her husband: "If I had
children of my own, and after a time I died, would you do as the
birds have done, and let my children be unkindly treated?"