Thus lived Master Sparrow and Master Stickelback, freezing in winter,
joyous in summer; while jolly Chimney-Sweep, Yasha, cleaned his
chimneys and sang his songs. Each had his work, his joys and his
troubles.
One summer day the Chimney-Sweep walked down to the river to wash. He
walked along, whistling, when suddenly he heard a terrific noise. What
had happened?
Whirling above the river was a crowd of birds, ducks, geese, swallows,
snipe, crows and pigeons, shouting with laughter, for no apparent
reason.
"I say! What has happened?" asked the Chimney-Sweep.
"This is what happened," piped a bold Bluebird. "It is too funny for
words. Just see what Master Sparrow is doing. He seems quite mad."
The Bluebird piped in her thin, high voice, flicked her tail and soared
above the river. When Chimney-Sweep drew nearer, Master Sparrow just
flew at him. He was frightful to behold. His beak was open, his eyes
wild, his feathers all ruffled.
"Master Sparrow, what is all this about? Why are you making all this
noise?" asked the Chimney-Sweep.
"No! I'll teach him a few things!" shouted Master Sparrow, fairly
choking with rage. "He doesn't yet know who I am! I'll teach that
confounded Stickelback! He'll have cause to remember me! The rascal!"
"Don't listen to him," shouted Stickelback from his river. "It's all
lies."
"Who is lying?" shouted Master Sparrow. "Who found the worm? I'm lying?
Indeed! A nice fat worm that I myself dug up on the bank. I worked
hard, too. I finally got him and was just about ready to take him home
to my nest--I have a family, you know, that has to be fed. No sooner
did I get above the river, the worm in my mouth, than that abominable
Stickelback (I hope the pike swallows him) shouted, 'Hawk! Hawk!' I
screamed with fright and the worm dropped out of my mouth into the
water and Master Stickelback swallowed him. I call this cheating. There
was no hawk in sight."
"It was only a little joke of mine," said Stickelback, defending
himself. "That worm was really delicious."
All kinds of fish were gathered about Stickelback, minnows, carp and
perch, listening and laughing at the story.
"Yes, that was a fine trick Master Stickelback played on his old
friend. But funnier still was to see Master Sparrow fighting Master
Stickelback, flying at him again and again and getting nothing."
"I hope my worm chokes you! I'll dig up another," shouted Master
Sparrow. "What hurts me most is that Stickelback fooled me and now he
laughs at me. I was even inviting him to visit me on my roof. A fine
friend he is, I must say! Here's our Chimney-Sweep, Yasha. He will
agree with me, I'm sure. He's my good friend. At times, we even eat
together. Yasha eats his bread and I pick up the crumbs."
"Wait, brothers! This affair needs a judge," announced Yasha. "Just let
me wash myself and I shall deal with the whole thing fairly. And you,
Master Sparrow, just calm yourself a bit."
"I know I am right. I have nothing to worry about," shouted Master
Sparrow. "I only want to show Stickelback that I shall not stand for
his jokes."
Chimney-Sweep Yasha sat down on the bank, put his lunch near him,
washed his face and hands, and said:
"Now, brothers, let us get at the bottom of this trouble. You, Master
Stickelback, are a fish. And you, Master Sparrow, are a bird. Am I
right?"
"Yes, yes," shouted the birds and fishes in chorus.
"Let us go on," said Yasha. "A fish must live in water, a bird in the
air. Am I right? Well then, a worm lives in the ground. Very well. Now
let's see."
The Chimney-Sweep opened his lunch, a piece of wheaten bread, and laid
it on a stone, saying:
"Now look! What is this? Bread, isn't it? I earned it and I shall eat
it. And with it, I shall have a drink of water. All this means that I
have earned my dinner without harming anyone. A fish and a bird also
want their dinner. Each of you has his own food. Why quarrel? Master
Sparrow dug up the worm, therefore the worm was his. He earned it."
"Wait, Uncle," piped a thin voice in the crowd. The birds moved apart
to allow a little snipe to come forward. Standing on his thin little
legs close to the Chimney-Sweep, the snipe said:
"It isn't true, Uncle."
"What isn't true?" asked Yasha.
"About the worm," said the snipe. "I found it. You can ask the ducks.
They saw me. I found the worm and Master Sparrow snatched it away from
me."
Chimney-Sweep Yasha was puzzled. This was quite a different story.
"Let me see," he murmured, trying to gather his thoughts together.
"Hey, Master Sparrow! What do you mean by lying to me?"
"I'm not lying. The snipe is. He and the ducks made that story up."
"Well, brothers, something is wrong. Of course, a worm isn't anything,
but to steal it, is not nice. And he who steals must lie. Am I not
right?"
"Right! You are right!" shouted all in chorus. "All the same, you have
to be the judge between Master Stickelback and Master Sparrow."
"Which of those two is right?" asked Yasha. "Both made a noise. Both
fought and stirred up everybody else. Who is right? Oh, the two of you,
Master Stickelback and Master Sparrow, the two of you are rascals. I
will punish both of you as an example. Now, both of you make up
quickly."
"That's right," shouted the crowd in chorus. "Let them make up."
"As for the snipe who worked to get the worm, I will feed him with my
crust," decided the Chimney-Sweep. "Then everybody will be satisfied."
"Splendid!" all shouted their approval.
The Chimney-Sweep made a move to offer his crust to the snipe, but the
crust had disappeared. While Yasha was talking, Master Sparrow grabbed
the crust and flew away with it.
"The rascal! The scamp!" shouted the birds and the fishes indignantly,
starting in pursuit of the thief.
The crust was heavy and Master Sparrow could not fly far with it. He
was caught just beyond the river. Birds, large and small, threw
themselves upon the thief. It was a real battle. They were all tearing
the bread to bits and the crumbs fell into the river. These the fishes
grabbed. Then followed a battle between birds and fish. The crust was
broken into tiny crumbs. The crumbs were eaten up. When it was all
over, everybody grew thoughtful. They felt ashamed. While chasing the
thief to recover the crust, they had grabbed it up themselves.
The jolly Chimney-Sweep, Yasha, sat on the bank, watching and laughing.
The whole affair had turned out to be so funny. They were all gone.
There remained only the Sandy Snipe.
"Why don't you fly along with the others?" asked the Chimney-Sweep.
"I would, Uncle, only I am too small. The big birds might peck me to
death."
"Well, maybe you are right, little Snipe. Both of us are left without
our dinner. Evidently, we haven't worked hard enough for it."
Then came Verotchka to the river bank and asked the jolly Chimney-Sweep
what had happened. How she laughed when she heard the story!
"How foolish they all are, the fish and the birds," said Verotchka. "I
could divide everything right, and no one would quarrel. Not long ago
I divided four apples. Father brought four apples and said, 'Divide
these between you and Lisa and me evenly.' I divided them into three
parts. I gave one apple to father, one apple to Lisa, and I took two
apples for myself."
[Illustration]